I did find a way. I also It has occasion. Morning. Okay, it's working just fine. Okay. That's good. And then that's a bunch of changes tomorrow. until December. All right. I was just going to say they can take those front rows over there. That way there's room for them to just stand up. [Music] foreign. [Music] Yes. So when it's time, Janet and I talked about moving this stion out of the way and then this d turns. So we're just going to turn it and push it off to the side kind of out of the way a little. So they should have all of this space up here. And then we've got the music. So we'll play it. Uh okay. Yeah. Yeah. She was just telling me that it was plugged into the floor because she thought we were going to move it like way way out of the way, but I I told her we practiced it yesterday. Okay perfect. So, no, we're good. Yeah, we're good. We're good. They're going to put them just in line. So, how they're going so they can just set up the perfect Foreign speech. Foreign speech. Foreign speech. Okay. The only thing when you're here uh now therefore I where it says Hillary you just say your name. So now therefore I your name on behalf of Hillary. Yeah that's the like only trick to those otherwise just all in. So I my name on behalf of I declare September 24th just read through. You don't have to read. Okay. You can hang on to it. Yeah. I saw him. [Music] All right, we are waiting on one council member. Um, I think she's getting online with us, so I apologize everyone. We will get going in a minute. Carl. Uh, Madame Mayor, uh, Council Member Eert's present. Morning. I hope everyone is well. Um, we are going to start out with the pledge of allegiance. And I would absolutely love for Terry Brooks to lead us in the pledge. [Music] Thank you. All right, madame clerk, please call the role. We are calling ro for the Wednesday, September 24th, 2025 Reno City Council meeting. Vice Mayor Taylor here. Council member Der, yes. Council member Martinez here. Council member Eert here. Present on Zoom. Council member Reese here. I didn't hear it. I'm so sorry. Sorry, Council Member Reese, you're Thank you so much. Council member Anderson here. Mayor Shivi here. You do have a quorum of the Reno City Council. Okay. We are going to start with public comment and we have some very special guests here today. Wow. Are you colorful? Are you feeling that colorful? Yes. I want to hear you. Yes. Yes. Okay. Good. We need some energy in the room. So, who is um your do you have a like a in government we call it a chair? Do you have a do you have a head of do you want to come up for a minute and talk just a little bit about what what you're doing here and and how your impact um makes um so we're for PBLO um we were founded back in 2018 it's a motheraughter duo so my mom over here she's the director I'm one of the instructors hi mom um our mission is just to transmit our culture through dance um bring it here to Reno Nevada make sure um we bring out the positivity of the Mexican culture. Um, so yeah, I love that we all could dance a little bit more, right? Yeah, we all need it. The colors and the energy right? Yeah, that's great. I love that. And then we have a proclamation for you. Yeah. Correct. Yes. All right. Councilman Ree, I think Mr. Martinez was going to read for Yes. Do you have it? I think they have. Did you want to read it for them? Yeah, if you'd like me to, of course. Thank you, Miguel. Yeah, that'd be great. He'll join you in one second. How about you girls stand up so that we can see your beautiful faces and Miguel can read the proclamation in your honor. Thanks for being here. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for the privilege, madame mayor and uh Council Maurice. It's my honor to read the proclamation on behalf of the office of the mayor, city of Reno. Whereas Valforico Pueblo stands as a vibrant testament to the rich tapestry of Mexican culture and heritage, masterfully weaving together the colorful traditions of Mexico through captivating dance and music. And whereas this esteemed ensemble brings unparalleled artistry and dedication to the community of Reno, Nevada, enriching our city's cultural landscape by sharing the exhilarating beauty, intricate costumes, and spirited rhythms of traditional Mexican for gloric dance. And whereas the city of Reno proudly recognizes and celebrates Bale for Chlorico Pueblo Novo for their profound contribution to the cultural diversity, artistic excellence, and the joyful preservation of Mexican identity within our beloved silver state. Now therefore, I council member Martinez on behalf of Hillary El Shivi, mayor of the city of Reno, do hereby declare September 24th, 2025 bal forcico. Ah congratulations. Okay. Do we get to do we get to experience? Yeah. Okay. Let's do it. Why? I'm not joking this part. Wow. This is a big deal. I can't heavy. Okay. Right there. I know. I have ready. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Baby darling. [Music] America. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. Heat. More [Music] again. Heat. Heat. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Wow, that is impressive. So, raise your hand if you were the one. What is it? Howling? Who? Yeah. Yodelling. What? What do we call that? Yeah. Yeah. They're called I'm sorry. They're called They're Mexican tradition in Mexico. A lot of people know like some people I'm sorry. Some people will It's like a I cry. So, it it's in intricated into the dances and also just Mexican culture in general. Well, I love that cuz we we kind of go woo woo instead. But I think you guys did a phenomenal job. We need more of this in our lives. We need more dancing. We need more celebration of each other and come together as a community and especially as our youth. And I'm looking at all of you as future mayors, right? Yes. They're look a little scared. Okay. Um, why don't you come up here? Let's take a quick picture. But I want to say thank you so much for everything that you do in the community because when you guys dance, it really lights up a room. And I've watched so many people just be um just come alive when they see the colors and they see your passion for your dance and your culture. So, I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart. And this kind of also looks a lot like it takes a lot of time to get ready like this, doesn't it? You got to put your makeup on. you got to put this dress on. How long does that take? We bring all the dance the the dresses from Mexico. So, that's a process. Um the braids are handmade by one of um a member of our team. Um makeup, we have classes every once a week, once a month to make sure everybody, all the parents know what the makeup is supposed to look like. Um we are a group of about 40 kids um ages six to 18, 20. Um, we do have four levels. So, every Friday we practice for about four hours. So, it's a it's a lot of work, but it does look beautiful when it's put together. It's a lot of discipline, right? So, we respect your craft very much. That's impressive. And not to mention, I think it's so good for mental health to get kids engaged early and often. So, that is fantastic. Well, we'd love to take a picture with you and we would love to invite you back anytime you want to come because sometimes our meetings can get pretty heavy and I think it's really good for the community to be reminded that there is celebration out there and as a community we are one. So, fantastic job. All right, thanks you guys. Come on, let's take a quick picture. I didn't realize. So, these are attached. That's fantastic. We should all get a pair. Get Yeah, you have to earn them, I think. Uh oh. Okay. Got to work on that. We got to work on that one. Okay. On the count of three, we're all gonna suck it in. Got it. Ready? One, two, three. One more. One, two, three. Perfect. Okay. All right. You guys, thank you so much for coming. Thank you. Thank you very much. All right, Madame Clerk, I'm going to send it back to you. I think there was one more proclamation. Oh, is there I am so sorry, Scott. Scott Oxerart. Scott, I am so sorry. Sorry. I thought you were coming to the next council meeting. Oh, good. Glad you're here this morning. I'm happy to be here. Uh, for the record, Scott Oxerart. Um, I'm I'm on my lunch break as the communications manager for Northern Nevada Public Health, but I'm here representing uh as an ambassador for the state of Nevada for the Association for Freno Tempmple Degeneration. Um, thankful for the opportunity to be here uh with Kelly who submitted this proclamation that I was going to read real quick and share a quick story and then have uh Kelly uh say her story and then uh we'll be on our way. Apologies. The the contrast you're getting right now with the color and the beautiful dancers. Yeah, you get you get me. But I still think it's incredibly important. Absolutely. And to hear your stories really resonates with a lot of people. So I appreciate that. Please. So I'll I'll go ahead and read this uh with your with your blessing. Uh whereas the association for frontal temporal degeneration reports that FTD is a terminal and incurable neurodeenerative disease affecting the frontal and temporal loes causing impairments to speech, personality, behavior and motor skills which constitutes which constitutes as a major public health concern. And whereas it takes an average of 3.6 six years from start of symptoms to get an accurate diagnosis and may strike people between the ages of 21 and 80 with the largest percentage of those affected being between 45 and 64 rendering people in the prime of their life unable to work or function normally and whereas FTD represents an estimated 5 to 15% of all dementia cases and is the most common form of dementia for people under 60 and is often misdiagnosed as a psychiatric problem or other neurodeenerative disease because of the wide range of cognitive and behavioral symptoms and whereas the disease dramatically impacts the the lives of 60,000 people in America and their loved ones. Now therefore I Scott Oxort on behalf of Hillary Sheibbei, mayor of the city of Reno, Nevada, do hereby declare September 21st through 28th, 2025 is frontal fronttotemporal degeneration awareness week. Very very powerful. Thank you. Um, so I I'm here today because of my father, Steve Oxerart. Uh, he passed away in 2023 from this disease. Uh, he was a great great man. He he loved Reno. He loved uh, University of Nevada Wolfpack athletics. Uh, he was a proud Basco. Louise Bas Corner was his spot. I would have loved him. He sometimes took it a little too far, but that's what he um, and and just a quick story of kind of the journey that u that he went through. So, I have uh a couple pills right here. And in um the fall of 2021, we had a family gathering. He had just been diagnosed, was showing some erratic symptoms uh that were just not him. And uh he came up to me and he gave me these pills and he said, "Here you go. I think you might you might these might help you." And I looked at them and the pills were for erectile dysfunction. uh which could be a hilarious joke and and typically maybe it would be uh but in this case he was he was dead serious and it's both kind of a sad and a happy memory because it's happy for some reason because I knew despite what he was going through and the personality changes that he was experiencing uh that were so dramatic and so unlike what who he was um I knew in deep down he was just trying to help his son and he for some reason that's what he thought that would help his son. Now the sad part is obviously you don't you don't give a family member pills to to treat that uh condition. Um but it also showed just the shift in what he was going through and the awkward moments that a lot of people experienced um that a lot of caregivers have to go through that deal with this disease. So that's really why I'm here. Uh we're trying to promote our um uh really trying to reach out to caregivers. If you if you know somebody that's going through something like this, there are people out there like me and Kelly who have gone through this disease and we can talk through this because when you're trying to explain something like this to people that don't know what the disease is, it's incredibly difficult and it can be a very lonely process as you're trying to navigate that. Uh so that's why we're here. Um, again, if you have a loved one in your life that's experiencing some traumatic um, behavioral changes, socially inaccible norms, um, it could be something to see a neurologist about. And the Association for Front Temporal Degeneration aftd.org has a lot of different resources here locally that we can help with. Yeah. Do they have any idea what causes this in any capacity? There are no causes. There are no cures. Um there are clinical trials going on right now that they're seeing some really good results um initially to try and treat and maybe reverse some of the symptoms but um that's one of the most devastating parts of this disease is you don't know why it happened and there is no way to reverse it right and also it's a lot like a death that you live through through a long time because they become very different and I don't think people realize that you start to go through that process because you lose them even though they're here you grieve while they're alive. Absolutely. That's exactly it. But it's so important what you're doing in this community because caregivers have one of the hardest jobs and they and their mental health and their physical health can be at great risk as well. So it doesn't just impact one person, it impacts many. But I think the greatest gift that you can give is a community that will be there for each other because oftentimes caregivers feel incredibly alone. And there are some staggering statistics everyone in the in in this room and probably many of you have had um loved ones or family members that you've taken care of as they age, but they have a very high uh death rate as well because um it's so incredibly hard to take care of loved ones that are failing. So I think people forget about the caregiver as well and it's really that holistic approach with everyone. But I think what you're doing is so important. And let me just say, I really want to point this out. Having you here today puts this into absolute perspective. I want everyone in this room to understand this because we're living in a world where people put politics over people and humanity. This is what matters at the end of your life. caring for each other, loving each other, being there for each other. All this stuff that everyone got so upset about that they brought to a whole different level will not matter in the end. What will matter are the people that loved you and the people you loved back. And that's what we have got to put first and foremost because all of this many of us will never ever ever remember. Now, yes, your issues are important, but we have gotten so far off base about putting people first. We've put politics first, and that has been sad. I hope if everyone in this room takes a lesson today, your courage is commendable because my best friend is going through same situation. And I have watched the process and it is one of the most heartbreaking things for anyone to have to go through. So, your courage is commendable and I'm so grateful you're here for our community. But I just want everyone to have one lesson and one takeaway. What matters most is at the end you have someone to hold your hand and to value those relationships. The memories are what we're going to take with us. Not the politics that have happened in this room or the emails that I get, right? It's about this. So, thank you so much perspective. I would love to hear hear from you because I know your advocacy has been amazing. I'm Kelly Hel and um my husband was James Michael Hel and he was a contractor here in Reno and in Sparks and um we were newly married and he changed the minute that he signed the marriage certificate and I didn't know that that's part of the disease. They're able to put on a show and then the second that they feel that comfortable with somebody they can change. and he changed 360 degrees and your point of the ED medication. That was the first thing I was like, what? You know, something happened and go to the urologist. We go to the gastrointenologist. We're seeing doctor after doctor. He's seeing bodies in the street, but he claims he's run over, but he gets out and they're not there. He leaves me at a concert in Tahoe, says I'm in the bathroom and I'm in the police car. so many things that he did that I couldn't put a picture on it because it creeps in slowly. It's not something that happens where you go, "Oh, somebody's got the flu." The symptoms just start adding up. Now he's hunting bears in the backyard, okay? We have a fenced in fence. We we we don't have bears in our backyard. It was one thing after another. And he started repetitively leaving me places at Stanford Hospital after having heart surgery. He left me there and I'm by myself for 3 weeks. He wouldn't answer his phone. Nobody could put a finger on what was going on and nobody knew what was going on in our house. And as a caregiver, because we hide it, I made a commitment even though our marriage sucked because it did. That I was going to be there with him through the end. Yeah. But in doing that, I also didn't realize the danger that I put myself in. Mhm. And people don't talk about that with behavioral frontal lobe dementia because they think it's just behavioral stuff. Yeah. My husband beat me terribly. My husband beat himself terribly. I have over 180 photos of the damage that he did to my home and to my body. He threatened my children that he was going to put my body parts in buckets. We called the police. They were living at our house. Nobody would take them. M not one facility, not one group home, not one hospital, not our mental facility in Carson City. They all had a choice. And yet if I left him there, I would go to jail for abandonment. So I had to take my husband home knowing that he could kill me. I had to live in an attic for two years with a baby monitor to keep myself safe. I prayed every day and questioned my faith because what God could make a disease like this exist and what did I do to deserve it? He chose to donate his brain and spine to UCSF and hoping to find a cure. I decided I wanted to be an advocate for behavioral frontal lobe of dementia. I've written a book that'll be out in 30 days raising awareness. All profits go to UCSF. And I've learned so much about myself and how strong you have to be, but how compassionate you have to be for other people that are in the caregiving position. My house will never feel the same to me. I couldn't even find a hospice that knew how to treat him. I had to refer the hospitalist to the aftd.org professional page on how to treat my husband. And if you saw what they did to my husband, it was worse than what he was living with. And I want that to stop. I want education for doctors, education for politicians, education for everybody so they can be treated as a human being with dignity. Yeah. to find out six months later that people witnessed my husband in the ER naked completely out of control. To hear the horror stories that people say about him because they didn't give him privacy or dignity. All of these things wrapped into one make it a very scary disease and we don't talk about it because nobody knows about it and they just say, "Well, it's just dementia." It's nothing like dementia. It's not just memory. Memory is the minuscule part of it. Yeah. It's the the disappearance slowly. And the saddest part was on a good day, he knew what was happening to him. I didn't think he knew. The doctors told me he wouldn't know. He could tell me. I know I'm disappearing. I'm missing pieces of my brain every day. So when he finally passed, I wasn't sad. I was happy he was no longer suffering. Of course. And I don't want anybody to have to go through what I went through. You shouldn't have to live in your attic. Mhm. You shouldn't have to keep your family away from your home and your friends and you have to warn all your neighbors because your husband is a nutcase and there's no help. Yeah. And then you get a case worker that says, "If you leave him here, you're going to jail. Yeah absolutely. The biggest part of that awareness and what we're trying to do is little actions like this and it does make a difference because there are people sitting in here that can relate to this and there are people that are watching that can relate to this and you might be someone else's light from the hardships that you went through. But I am so incredibly sorry. I am so incredibly sorry. It's just, you know, to me it was um I have to look at the positive. Yes. And the positive is is that I learned a lot and I'm able to now help people with what I went through. Yes. So that's the way I have to look at it. That's an amazing gift. And so um the senator and I are working on um a resolution for the state. Great. So happy to hear that. Well, please let us know how we can help you. Thank you for your work. Obviously, you went into public health um for many reasons and probably the biggest is your compassion for people. So you two are amazing. and keep doing what you're doing. You're always welcome back. But I think it's a great reminder of every day is a gift with our loved ones. And what is perspective? Perspective, right? Yep. So, thank you very very much. All right, you guys. Yes. [Applause] Yep. That is courage. You are exactly right, Jackie. Courage. All right, just give me one minute. I just want it to sit for a minute. Thank you so much, Brian. There's no Okay, just put a lot of cream in there. Okay, Madame Clerk, I'm going to send it back to you um to resume public comment. Madame Mayor, our first item today is public comment. Members of the public may hear, observe, and provide public comment virtually by registering through the following link, which can be found on reno.gov/meings. https colon slashforward slash l i n ks period r e n o period go vward slash c o u n c i l09-24. It should be noted for those in attendance that comments are to be addressed to the mayor and council as a whole. Comments heard under this item will be limited to three minutes per person and may pertain to matters both on and off the council's agenda. Council may not take action upon any matter not agendaized on today's agenda. When you are called on for public comment, please state your name for the record and begin speaking. The timer will begin when you've stated your name and you will be afforded 3 minutes. For those participating in chambers in accordance with council rules 6.3.11 while in this room, please be respectful. Disruptive behavior from audience members like clapping, yelling, whistling, etc. which impede the meeting may result in a warning issued by the presiding officer. If the behavior continues, you may be removed from chambers. If you are an attendee in the Zoom meeting and would like to make public comment, please raise your hand at this time. Okay. And then, madame clerk, I am going to just remind um you and everyone that's in attendance, please make sure um you check in on what items everyone is here for because I want to make sure that we move them up to get you guys out and about for your day. Um so, if there is an item, I don't want you sitting here all day long. I want to prioritize them um based on who's here for what item. So, thank you very much. I appreciate that. Great shirt, by the way. I bleed silver and blue. Go pack. Good. Nice. Okay. Go ahead, Madam Clerk. Terry Brooks, followed by Drew Reebar, followed by Claudia Castanada. Good morning. It's me, Terry Brooks, again, and today I'd like to share with you my thoughts on inflation and what seniors go through. I remember when I started driving my own truck, gas was 19.9 per gallon. Now it's a lot higher at several dollars per gallon. I remember when I bought my first home, my payments were $62.12 a month, but now I pay rent for an apartment that's over $1,000 a month. I remember when I hunted and fished and had my own garden and fruit trees for food. I didn't have to spend very much at the grocery store for food. Now I don't hunt, fish, or garden anymore, so I have to buy all my food, and it takes up most of my retirement benefits to pay for all that food. My social security used to be about twice as much as my rent, but now my social security payments are less than my rent. Health care has gotten way more expensive, and so is the price of medication. Seniors seem to be hit the hardest when it comes to inflation. But the inflation reduction act of 2022 has lowered health care costs for seniors and it lowered prescription drug costs for so many seniors. The older seniors get to be time flies by even faster. We remember inflation in the past, but in the present it grows even faster. So seniors who in the present are just barely getting by now wonder if in the future they will still get by. Sometimes seniors may feel like they're receiving some kind of curse when the pain of inflation keeps getting worse and worse. So seniors seem to worry more when the older they get and they seem to be more helpless when the less bolder they get. So how long will we worry? Is the future not ours to see? We don't know what will happen. Whatever will be will be. I would like to thank you all for listening to me today and I look forward to coming back if I'm not too inflated that day. Thank you. Great job, Terry. Great job. Good morning. Hi Good morning, Drew Reebar. For the record, I'm also a candidate, haven't been a candidate for Assembly District 40. Um, I've got several concerns. We got a lot of first amendment or in the state of Nevada article one section 9 constitutional issues and this meeting with regards to uh public comment started off in my opinion violating our rights. You're you're telling people who who they can address, what they can do with with regards to speech. Article 1, section 9 of the Nevada Constitution specifically precludes making any law to restrict that. So that's a problem. The the real problem here is why I'm here is the city of Reno in conjunction with our center, the city of Reno gave our center, build our center incorporated, they gave them $10,000. I think you guys all voted to do that to put on the pride events. So tax dollars paid for Pride. Now, our center in the city of Reno put up a political banned list and I was banned from attending Pride. I paid five bucks to get in. Uh Dr. Allan Ratliff, he's a board member of Build our Center. He's also an associate professor up at UNR. He escorted me out of Pride. Um then called Reno PD who came outside of Pride and threatened me with citations even if I went back inside of Pride through the open alleyways. Now, Pride was not a closed event. Why was it not a closed event? Well, Pride was not a closed event because Build Our Center Incorporated is a 501c3 that directly interfered with my political campaign. Oh, that's an IRS violation. That's a bad thing. But they also charge donations to get in and they made donations a quidd proquo. Now, donations by definition, you know, you go to church and they pass the donation plate around after you go in because it's something freely given. But the city of Reno and Pride and Build our Center together jointly banned me, kicked me out, so I couldn't record. I didn't do anything wrong. I simply walked around quietly, didn't approach anybody, and I was trespassed, kicked out, and uh well, here we are today. Now, y'all know the great news is in a few months, some of us get to stand on stage together. Councilman Ree, Council Councilwoman Taylor, and I'm going to be there. And guess what we're going to talk about when we're standing on stage in front of the people about how you guys voted to give this organization $10,000 to ban political opposition in the city of Reno? Great news. Sad news. It truly is sad. Why is the city of Reno participating in ban list? Let's Let's see who's on this ban list. Let's see if it's political or not. Michelle Hull, Wo County Republican Central Committee member. Cliff Nellis. He's a preacher, so we're banning preachers now, but he's also a Wo County Republican Central Committee member. Oh, this one's good. Bruce Parks, Wo County Republican chairman. All right, my time's up. Have a nice day. Carl Hall, give me a call. The amended lawsuit's coming unless you give me a call. Okay, bye, Drew. Thank you so much. You guys shouldn't have done that. Okay, thank you. Okay, Madame Clerk. Claudia Castana, followed by David Shakar, followed by Steven White. Hi Claudia. Nice to see you. Likewise. So, thank you council for having me here today. I wanted to take that opportunity to speak about Operation Revival which is under a nonprofit where we have a food bank. Um, we do a mentoring program which right now I'll be running to the mentoring program. We serve over 164 students from all Sun Valley elementary school schools plus uh Glenn Duncan and the middle school. So, elementary. So, we serve a lot of children and they're all title one. But I would love today, as you can see, I did pass around these flyers. I would like to invite each and one of you, our council members, to come and serve that day. We're going to have the food pantry, we have resource fair, and we have a free medical clinic. So, I would love to have each and one of you come that day and help us with hands and be able to serve in our community. It's from 9 to 12. So, I did give them the the flyers there. So, I left them there for you. But if you guys are able to join us, I would appreciate you guys um being there so that the community sees that you're not only here, we don't get to see you only when you know we come to a council me meeting, but that we can see you serve our community. And each and one of you are doing amazing things in our ward. So, let's you know, I'm inviting you to come out of Sun Valley and help our communities. That is fantastic work. I have not heard of it, but um what's the date? Tell everyone. So, it's October 18th and it's from 9 to 12 there at the Sun Valley Community Park and it's free services for everyone for with our food pantry. We serve on a regular basis the first and third Saturday of every month. Um so, if you guys are ever need of any have any families that are in need, please send them our way. We only ask for their full name, date of birth, and how many people live in their household. Um, that's about it. And we we function based off of volunteers and donations. Wow, this is impressive. Um, so if there's anything that you guys are willing to do, I mean, minimum, if you guys can come and be my volunteers, I would appreciate it. If there's anything else that you guys are willing to help us out with, um, this is our second year doing the resource fair. Last year we served over 130 families which is more than 400 individuals. This year we're shooting for 200 families. So I need a lot of help. A lot of volunt you definitely do. I don't see a contact. Oh, it's No, I don't see a contact on here. I'll I'll go ahead and leave it on. It's on the public comment my information, but I think that is important because there are a lot of other people in the community that would probably like to donate or at least their time. Yes. Um, so it's awesome. That's great. Thank you so much. Have a wonderful afternoon. David Shakar, followed by Steven White, followed by Jared Espinosa. David, it's the famous artist. I'm an artist. I don't know about the fame part. Good morning, madame and mayor, uh, council members, and the always helpful Reno City Clerk's office. My name is, uh, David Shakar. I'm a nonf famous artist. You are a famous artist. About 20 years ago, in the good old days before the pandemic, the city of Reno actually had money and in conjunction with the city of Reno, the Reno Police Department, and the National Endowment for the Arts, uh, they sponsored a program. is a great program to help troubled youth. There are a lot of teenagers that have been dropped out of school or they were on drugs or they were jumped in a gang or came from u bad environments and they were getting in trouble. And we started this program. It was called the youth artworks mural projects. And I was the lead artist along with uh uh three other artists. And many of those youths that we taught how to paint murals. Some of those murals are still around the city of Reno. But when we first started it, we had a couple of people that said, "Oh, I'm not an artist. I I don't know how to draw." And my response to that is if you could sign your name, you you could draw. But one of the first uh uh exercises that we did, we took a field trip. I asked everybody to grab a rock, a round rock, and we're going to paint the rock. And that's going to prove that you're an artist. And I have a video. It's not one of me doing this, but it was a video of I saw on the web about this people about this person who was drawing a rock and uh oh god it I'm having a uh a digital doofus problem here. Uh it's just a it's just a 10-second video. Um, let me see if I could access that. Um, while I'm looking for it, uh, what we did is everybody had a basic set of, uh, acrylic arts, and all you really need are red, yellow, and blue, white, and black. You can make any color under the sun. Um, I'm afraid if I look through the phone, I'm going to get distracted and I can't find it. But what you do is you get a rock and you get whatever colors you want and you just paint it. You don't have to make any design on it or anything. And the cool thing about that is you could make a a a very good landscape. You'll paint like a dark blue at the top and then at the bottom it could be green and you can paint some trees in. You can take a toothbrush and put white paint on it and that'll make stars in the sky. Uh it's a lot of fun to do and it doesn't cost anything and it makes really great presents because they're inexpensive. Uh I love that and uh and then you're an artist and you can give these away. I love that. And I wish I had that picture. Uh I unfortunately I don't. Well, when you find it, you can come back up in public comment. Okay. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Thanks, David. Steven White, followed by Jared Espinosa, followed by Danny Heinson, our other favorite artist. Famous artist. Brought you another one of my pictures. Oh, good. Let's see it. Good morning, Mayor. Good buddy. Good morning, council members and city manager. The colors never come through on that, you know. I know. Um, a lot of talk. Oh, my name is Steven White, notorious defender of of self-expression and artistic freedom in this country for the last 29 years. a lot of talk these days about artistic freedom and about freedom of self-expression with Jimmy Kimmel getting kicked off the air and um you know one of the things I've been fighting for is weren't these kids just beautiful wasn't this wonderful seeing it brought a tear to my eye watching these youngsters doing their dancing all one of the things I'm fighting for I want to see that in our parks I want to see it along a riverw walk you know all these different organizations. It brings us together, you know, it brings us all together and we need that more now than ever before. I want you to know I'm working with Nathan over here, head of park and Rex, and we're getting together on creating some displays. Turns out you folks already have panels, metal panels, and I suggested to Nathan that I can provide a pole. I'll go out buy a metal pole and I'll spend my own money and buy some garden umbrellas and let's put together some of these displays. I want to put at least one together and show you what we can do. Let's get this done in the parks. But one of the things I wanted to tell you is, you know, for all these years I've been telling artists that go out in the park and sell their artwork and display their artwork and perform their artwork in the park without a license or permit. They don't believe me. And I don't blame them. I mean, you for years, city governments all over the country, including this one, ran artists off of public property. The message has to come from city hall. You know, Nathan and I can work together all day long putting up these displays, but if you folks don't reach out to your constituents and and tell everybody in this city, start a whole program telling everybody the fine arts are welcome in your public parks and along your riverwalk. It isn't going to work unless we do that. So, I hope we can do that. And I'm looking forward to working with Nathan over here. And I'm We're finally going to get this done. Mayor, yeah, I'm so grateful for Nathan because he's a big supporter of arts and I wish I could hear you. And our parks. Okay. Sorry. But Nathan is wonderful and we're so grateful that you guys are working together because it really is going to make a difference. We want all artists to create in our community. Quite honestly, it's really what's changed the trajectory of Reno on so many levels. I don't know if people know that. And also, art is nonpartisan. Look at all the talent you've got in this city. We do. We have incredible kaleidoscope for talent out in the in the lobby right now. Wonderful. We need to move it out into the parks. Get it before the public. God bless you all and thank you for the work you all do. Thank you, Mr. White. Thank you, Mayor. One second. Jared Espinosa followed by Danny Heinson. You can put them in at the end if he doesn't mind. Yeah. I don't know how many you have. How many do you have? How many comments? Okay. Ask them if it's okay. All right. Good morning. Good morning. Um, what's your name? I I'm sorry I didn't catch it. I wanted to say thank you to Miguel. He said he was going to respond. um soon this week. Brandy, I I haven't heard back from you. I'm still waiting on that report. You don't have an update from 6 months. Okay. Um so, what? Sorry, I didn't I didn't hear your name. Oh, yeah. I haven't stated it yet. Sorry. I was saying thank you to the the council members that I knew. So, um my name to meet you. My name is Jared Espinosa. Jared, nice to meet you. I'm born and raised in this town. Uh that's rare. Do bleed silver and blue. I haven't graduated from the university and I've also been homeless in this city. So the main reason I'm here today is to say we need to put the human back in humanity. I think that's a preerequisite to being human is treating people humanely, especially those beneath us, those struggling. So when the water situation when there's no public drinking fountains or watering stations and businesses refuse to give water to me that's inhumane especially in 80 90 100 degree heat. You have to walk a mile, 2 miles, 3 miles just to find out that that watering station is shut down. So now you have to walk another mile, two, three miles and hope that that one's on. in 100 degree heat. In perfect conditions, you go 72 hours without water, you're dead. And that's in the perfect conditions, not 100 degree heat. So, when we're driving past and we see someone that's talking to themselves or mumbling or whatever they're doing, maybe it's not them on drugs, maybe they're dehydrated because dehydration causes hallucinations. Your brain starts to shrivel up. Your organs stop working. If the Roman aqueducts from 2500 years ago can still bring water to half of Europe, why is it so hard for us to have easy access to drinking water? My next suggestion in terms of treating people humanely is why are we making the most vulnerable among us get on a bus if not two, hoping that bus is on time? First off, the one I got on today was 25 minutes late. Not that it's the bus driver's fault. We just don't have the funding for it, right? They have to get on a bus, if not two, potentially on their walker in their wheelchair to go down to Catholic Charities to get sugar and carbs. I mean, if we're already paying to maintain parks and maintain trees in those parks, why don't some of those trees produce something that we can eat? Why don't we dedicate half of that green space to green houses? So then a natural anti-depressant is gardening, right? The grandmas, the grandpas, the stay-at-home parents, and their children can go to those green houses and learn from the master gardeners. Instead of them teaching classes that are difficult to attend, those master gardeners can make their rounds. We can use the university and they can get horiculturists, engineers. I mean, the tops of every parking garage could be a greenhouse. And then that water drainage, we could put a filtration system in it to where it goes through and that's another drinking fountain. I mean, it's to me it seems simple. We're just not dedicating our funds appropriately. Uh, in terms of finances where we're going to get it. I I mean, we look at the people who have it, right? There's a thousand or so billionaires. Thank you for your time. Great job. Great job. appreciate. Thank you so much for coming. Thank you. Good message. Danny Heinen followed by Pam Mcadoo followed by Olivia Tanager. That goes up there. Good morning everybody. Danny Heinson, founder and executive director of My Hometown Hero. It was great to be back. Uh as I mentioned before, 2025 is my 25th year remission from brain cancer. So this year I've uh created a campaign called 25 moments. So each moment is dedicated and built to celebrate each year I've been in remission. Tomorrow is the opening reception for the Dragon Lights and the 7th annual Heroes Night Out event and that will be moment number 18. Um helping support this campaign is uh Devin Ree. He's uh enrolled in a program called Fund the Future where if you subscribe to a hundred bucks a month or donate $1,200, you actually sponsor a scholarship recipient. And the scholarship recipient that Devon sponsored is Talia Crowe who will be at Heroes Night Out and you'll be able to meet her face to face. Um Bry's son Cooper is a young adult ped pediatric cancer survivor who um is well on his way in his career in the firefighting space and he was our honorary speaker last year at Heroes Night Out. And um you know, our our mission is to help bridge the gap between cancer and college, one scholarship at a time. And I know that the Dragon Lights VIP opening reception is is invite only. And I I'm I'm pretty sure that most of you will be there. Uh so whether you have a if you haven't already gotten a ticket, if you're going to be there anyway, I would highly recommend grabbing a ticket for Heroes Night Out and helping support our cause to help bridge a gap between cancer and college, one scholarship at a time. And for the first 60 people to enter the event, you will all receive a complimentary copy of my book, For Reason, on my journey from brain cancer to becoming Iron Man to starting the foundation. That is so incredibly inspiring and I remember last year and all your accomplishments. Your story is remarkable and I think it's one of hope, especially anyone that's facing the journey of cancer. It's so devastating, right? But I think looking at you, it gives a lot of people hope. So, um, I want to make sure everyone has the information. So, it's tomorrow, correct? Correct. And what time? So, it begins at 5:00 p.m. and it runs about 7:30. 5 to 7:30. Yep. We'll have amazing caterers out there for you. Uh, Cherry Bomb Catering, Daddy's Taco, Sushi Pier. And where is it? It'll be at the Bober Demay Center in the Garden Atrium right next to Dragon Lights. Oh, good. So, how convenient is that? There you go. So, anyone that hasn't seen Dragon Lights and wants to give to a great cause and support of your mission, it's a perfect synergy. Yep. And the only way you can get tickets to Dragon Lights opening receptions if you have a ticket and a wristband for Heroes Out. Oh, see, a lot of people didn't know that. Yeah. I love that. Okay, good. Thank you so much. Thanks. Really appreciate it. Devin, good job. Brandy, good job. Thank you. Pam McAdoo, followed by Olivia Tanager, followed by Hagen Sandival via Zoom. Thank you for this opportunity to speak. I'd like to uh address agenda item D3 and voice my strong opposition to approving the proposed Mount Rose Junction development. The Plumis neighborhood planning overlay exists for a reason. to maintain the character and integrity of the neighborhood. The current overlay plan would allow construction of 14 units on this parcel at 1565 Plumis Street, which seems reasonable. However, the developer wants a change to SPD zoning on the parcel in order to build 39 units in threestory structures that will block views and solar resources in the neighborhood. that will increase traffic and safety issues on already congested Plumus Street, which has no bike lanes and aging or no sidewalks and will create for more a need for more parking on the narrow side streets. The street where I live, which is right around the corner from the parcel, is frequently reduced to one lane when residents park on both sides of the street. At the June Planning Commission, Mr. Oswald, the engineer for the project, stated, "There is no plan." His required handbook shows exactly that. There is no plan. Title 18 clearly states that an SPD zoning change plan will be reviewed very closely, and I quote from title 18.02.506. It is the express intent of the city to subject requests for changes in zoning to the SPD to a heightened level of scrutiny during the review process. But there is no plan. So this title 18 requirement for an SPD zoning designation cannot be satisfied. How can the request for a zoning change to SPD which fails to meet the requirements of title 18, how can that be approved? threestory structures are completely incompatible with the character of the neighborhood. The project would substantially increase existing parking, traffic, and safety issues, would block views and solar resources, and it would provide no benefit to the neighborhood. Add that to the fact that the developer has not provided an opportunity for residents to review and offer input on the development, and there is a strong case for denying approval of this project. The applicant for the Arlington Office project LCD25-000038, which is three blocks away, was required to hold an independently scheduled neighborhood meeting to gather residents input. There has not been a similar forum for the Mount Rose Junction development. NRS278.210 appears to have been applied selectively in some cases, but not to Mount Rose Junction. The planning commission has voted against approval of this project and I hope the city council will also. Thank you for your time. Olivia Tanager followed by Hagen Sandaval via Zoom followed by Abid Anoir via Zoom via Zoom. Good morning madame mayor, city council members, your favorite favorite local environmental advocate here again. Um, I just wanted to come uh talk a little bit about some misconceptions that I've heard around data centers and I apologize for bringing that back up to you all, but this is an ongoing conversation. Uh, the first thing I wanted to make you all aware of is that the city of Sparks did vote unanimously to start drafting an ordinance pertaining to data centers earlier this week. Uh, so we were really excited to see that, but I think that brings some color to the conversation here uh, in the city of Reno around data centers. If other local jurisdictions are going to start drafting regulations around data centers, the city of Reno really needs to be a part of that conversation. Uh I know you all are talking with regional and trying to figure out where that conversation is best held. Um my organization does still fully uphold that there should be local ordinances uh with the city of Reno, with the city of Sparks, with the county commission pertaining to data centers uh as well as a regional plan because we know that they do have an outsized impact. But they are a unique use. Uh they are an upand cominging use and uh as many planning associations are now recommending there should be specific ordinances that local bodies pass pertaining to data centers because they present unique and ongoing uh threats if they go unregulated. Um, you know, we have heard from folks that the concern is that if we establish regulations here in the city of Reno that we're just going to offload the problem elsewhere to our friends in Story County or Lion County or wherever it may be. Uh, but I believe that we all need to bring each other up and rise up together in establishing common sense regulations that'll give data center developers certainty and community members certainty. Uh, as it pertains to data centers as well. uh you know not establishing requirements for data centers in the city of Reno is like saying if we establish speed limits in the city of Reno. Yes. Uh all the speeders are going to go elsewhere. Yeah. So we we fully uphold that we need to continue to have that conversation and look forward to having that conversation with you. But I I did want to ask Madame Mayor we planning on having that October 1st meeting because we have heard whispers that that might be postponed or canceled. So you know I've been in a lot of contact with Mr. Visera. Yes ma'am. Um, now we are excited that Sparks has had that conversation, but let me tell you our position. First of all, I couldn't agree more. Regulation for sure. However, I think people need to understand this is an issue of regional significance. Everyone from Sparks, the county, and city of Reno need to do this together because we all have representatives on their board. what happens when we do it in silos that we do push off um some of that undue burden on our regional partners and then guess what happens you will have people come with those projects that will take the path of least resistance and if we're all talking the same language then I see Alicia shaking her head over here but um if we're all talking the same language and we have the same we have the same framework and we're doing it together. Um because remember Sparks does not have the water resources that we have, right? So I think there has to be that broad conversation. Couldn't agree more. Um I've been following what cities are doing across the country. They're putting in great framework and regulation. The city of Reno will do the same. My proposed my proposal, this is just me and I'm not going to speak for anyone else because I've reached out to Chair Hill and uh Mr. uh Mayor Lawson. um to put a moratorum in place. So, it's a pause and then we come up together with resolutions that we all agree on. Now, listen, some might not get there. I just think this is a good start for all of us to be collaborative together. Um so, that's kind of like where we're at. And um an email was sent yesterday. U Mr. Bera knows my concern. Um, and my fear was sometimes when we go out ahead without collaborating with the others jurisdictions, they feel like, you know, the city of Reno is stepping on them or we're not being good partners. And I want to make sure that that's not the case. um they might feel differently than we do, but I think that it could be something where you have regional governing board to really because we all have representatives on there to look at it and come up with some really good framework. And I think it's um I'm like I said I've been watching what they're doing across the country particularly in Phoenix and before this gets down the road of you know trying to turn it around I think we can come up with something that is very solid and you're seeing um I think the same framework across the country right so that's that's where we're at and um we will keep you you can always reach out to me always always I have, but I I'll continue to do so. No, you you can continue to do that. Thank you. I appreciate that. And if I may, I I do just want to emphasize the need for this conversation to happen expeditiously. I understand that the data centers that have come to Reno thus far are not to the scale that they are elsewhere in the state. I fully understand that and recognize they could be eventually. Yes, ma'am. And and a 30 megawatt data center is still a very big data center. Uh you know, it's a midsize data center. It's not a boutique data center. And so now we have permitted a 30 megawatt data center here in the city of Reno. Uh so I believe that this conversation needs to be moved forward expeditiously. I would encourage the October 1st meeting to go forward so we can have that collaborative conversation. My organization I know uh planning commissioners and other folks h have had broad stakeholder conversations with a variety of stakeholders across the region. And so um we feel confident moving forward. And the other thing that I I think you're hearing, especially in this political climate, Madame Mayor, is is fear from the folks in Reno, they're seeing the headlines from across the country. And again, recognizing the data centers that have come thus far are not as big as they could be. Uh but if we give folks regulatory certainty, if we have minimum requirements in the city of Reno, that's going to make folks in Reno feel a lot more comfortable with this conversation going forward and not have data centers as this big boogeyman as some folks have said. So I just want to emphasize that we need to move this conversation forward quickly and uh myself and my thousands of members will be there to support you all in doing that expeditiously. Thank you. And I think you're exactly right. I think there's a lot of fear. So it is very very timely. Um, but I'm gonna I'm gonna reach out to you personally because I also think there is a role there um that we're actually missing from your side and um because I'm kind of getting just one perspective from uh one person and I want to make sure that it's collective. Sure. Absolutely. So, I'm happy to tell you. Yeah. Anyway, we can help. Madame Mayor, we've come up with a list of solutions and and all of that that we we've um distributed. So anyway, any way that we can be a resource to you all in moving this conversation forward, uh we're glad to do that. We appreciate you all for meeting with us over the last few weeks as well. All right, thank you so much. Hagen Sandival via Zoom, followed by Lindseay Darrow, followed by Dominic Adams. Will you will you just stay here for a minute? Yes, you. Thank you so much. Good morning. Can you guys hear me? We can. Awesome. Madame Mayor, members of the council, my name is Hagen Sandival. I'm the seventh in generations of Neadans who came to this desert and they called it home. Um, both of my grandfathers were public servants, served the city of Reno for 35 years, uh, as captain of RFD and captain of Reno Police. My greatest honor has been serving as the chair of the historical resources commission for the city. I'm deeply disappointed that the city of Reno has chosen not to allow public discussion on the future and potential sale of the LER theater. The LER is one of Reno's most significant and cultural architectural landmarks. Its future deserves transparency, not rush decisions behind closed doors. Surprise agenda items with only 3 days notice throw the preservation community into chaos, erodess public trust, and makes the council look careless and deceitful. This is not what transparency looks like. I ask you to commit to the public process that was promised at the December meeting and please allow Councilwoman Dur and the staff to move forward with public workshops. Ensure every proposal for the LER is vetted through the historic is vetted through the historical resources commission. I apologize. Uh and that the public is your ally on this. Include them. Because in the end, how we protect the LER will show whether Reno truly values its history or if it's willing to sell it off without a voice from the people. And unfortunately, I'm still a little bitter about the mates and I would just hate to see the LER on a chopping block and replaced with something uh that is part of our cultural heritage and significance uh for the community. Hagen, by the way, thank you. Um and what is your Instagram? because I love the things that you post uh of historic Reno. Oh, on this side of Reno. Yeah. So, that's it's a combination of some of my family's photo collections and then uh I have probably about 2,000 Koma Road slides that were taken by tourists and stuff from Reno that I still got to scan and put on there, but uh it's very vibrant. Thank you so much for the uh compliment there. I love love love what you do. I think you are remarkable. So, thank you. Thank you, Kylie. That's a huge compliment. Thanks, Hagen. You're you're amazing. Have a great day. Lindseay Darrow, followed by Dominic Adams, followed by Audrey Keller via Zoom. Hello, Madame Mayor. Council members, my name is Lindseay Darrow. I am a member of the Ward 5 neighborhood advisory board and um I am going to make a comment about the ADU ordinance that you are all discussing later because I don't know if I can I I may not be here when you discuss it. So I want to say I'm generally supportive of the ordinance and that I really applaud the community engagement process that happened. Um, but I want to express my strong objection to the council's move to strike the prohibition against the short-term rentals less than 28 days that you all u made in the last meeting. So, I really encourage um the council to reinstate that prohibition and urge you to move to add that back in. That provision was recommended um was was really in direct response to the information collected in the community engagement process. And I and other residents were were kind of dismayed to see in the a couple weeks ago when the gentleman from Airbnb, the lobbyist, asked that that provision be removed. And then the council removed it. Um, ADUs could actually improve affordable housing in Reno a little bit for residents, but not if they're being used for short-term rentals. Um the prohibition still prohibition on short-term rentals still allows property owners to use these ADUs as income generating income generating properties. Um but for residents or for maybe traveling nurses or granny flats. Um and I think when I talk to my fellow community members that all those things are are much more palatable than than having a mini hotel run out of people's backyards. There's also implications for like the vibrancy of our downtown, the restaurants, the hotels, um all those things are affected. Um I want to emphasize that this doesn't proclude if you leave the prohibition, it doesn't preclude the council from later on developing a more comprehensive short-term rental plan that could could override this. Um but it does prevent a flood of units on the um that are legalized that then you have to later grandfather in and deal with after the fact. So, I think it's like the more uh cautious approach um because you could always change it later. Um so, I really hope you um consider uh listening to the community on this particular issue and um move to maintain that prohibition on rentals less than 28 days. So, thank you for your time. Dominic Adams, followed by Audrey Keller via Zoom, followed by Connie S. Va. Good morning, Dominic Adams. Um, I'm here in opposition of uh number D3. That's the uh Mount Rose Street um Plumis apartment building that um proposed with 38 uh apartment buildings in there. So, I'm all for um reentrification of the neighborhoods and I'm a builder myself and I spoke at our last NAB meeting. just came up on the um radar and I'm just appalled that they're trying to cram so many apartments in such a small space. That area is very precious to us in Reno. I love driving that neighborhood and seeing all the beautiful old homes in there. And being a builder myself, I've worked with Angela Bugodi, who's the designer for the Molina Street Pool. We did I did floss dental on Lander Street and we worked at 1906 building into a beautiful dentist office. Uh worked on Mark Ray's attorney's office on 608 Lander Street and did some renovations there. We kept the uh kept that building very in tune with what's going on and kept the neighborhood. Currently, we have a set of plans in at 180 Toma Street. We're going for a small building, uh, apartment building from a triplex to a forplex. So, these are things that I think this builder needs to keep in mind. And 38 apartments is just ridiculous. They need a parking garage alone to do this, and they haven't presented a good plan. I think it's very incomplete and I think you have to take a really close look at this. And uh I'm all for building regenerification, but please take a close look at this and uh give it some very thorough thought and I'm I I'm support the building 100%. Uh but please give it some more thought and look at this. Thank you for your time. Audrey Keller via Zoom followed by Connie SA followed by Kelly Jezel. Good morning, city council. Um, and and mayor when she comes back. Um, Audrey Keller, W 2 NAB. I'm going to take a quick try at trying to report um with our new our new plan to have the NAB members report to city council. So briefly, um we heard about the Lear Theater being discussed today and we discussed that it should not be on your agenda and it should not be up for sale. Uh please um please don't sell something that is under the opice of the Historic Preservation Society. Item two, the Mount Rose Junction. Uh follow the staff and planning commission and deny this application. We heard many many homeowners at the NAB um up in arms about this project or proposed project not fitting at all the the um the nature the beautiful nature of the community. So again follow the staff's recommendation um and the planning commission's vote and deny uh the Mount Rose Junction project. And finally, um, regarding the ADU project or the ADU approval before you, I should say, um, the one thing I would say is that at the NAB, we got many, many people um, coming forward in objection to ADU at all, especially in the older communities that were going to be impacted. And now with a 5,000 square foot limit, it definitely um will impact citywide according to the map that was on the on the staff report. But the thing that I'm I should remind you about the the NAB and striking the STRs. I think that's a very good idea to not allow STRs as part. I think you should separate that. And the reason being, which I've mentioned before, is when you have short-term rentals, it requires additional budget items for um administrative complaints, managing complaints, managing enforcement officers, code enforcement officers. And in the staff report, it said financial implications and it was said none at this time. I would tell you from two other cities that I resided at that that's quite that's quite incorrect. The budget is doubling if not more because STRs create many more complaints, many more enforcement items and many more requirements of the enforcement code officers to go to those facilities often over the weekends when SCRs uh cause a lot of problems in the neighborhood. So once again, um, that's my report and thank you very much, Connie S. Vera, followed by Kelly Jessel, followed by Jeffrey Bolato. Good morning, Connie S. Vera. Um, I just wanted I'm kind of late getting here today because I was at the school board meeting last night till 9:00. And if you don't mind, I could use some water. Um, but I'll get to that in a second. I wanted to come today to just thank you for everything you did with the ADU ordinance and I'm pretty confident I think that you'll probably pass it today and so I'm celebrating. I think you did a great job and we really appreciate it. But circling back to the schoolboard meeting since I have a little more time. The slides are fixed. The ADU looks like it's going good. Um I ended up being involved in something else I wanted to alert you of. The Reno High School has that 4,000 square foot greenhouse behind it and it's slated for demolition. However, we feel we've talked to the Boys and Girls Club uh representative and Faraly and we feel there's a lot of communities uh nonprofit groups that are willing to take over the expense of that greenhouse. The maintenance it does need u they have a structural report that structurally it's very sound. It just needs a lot of deferred maintenance that hasn't been done over the years. and we feel that we can get a private um partner to help us with that. And so if you have any influence or sway or interest um join us uh we have a couple of people that are interested and we're just kind of putting together a little group that uh and trying to convince the school board which they seem very receptive and I mean like I say I was there till nine o'clock last night. They did a wonderful job with their agenda. I was really impressed. they really are doing some good work there and I think I'm pretty positive that they'll join us and and uh maybe we can get something done with it. So, I just want to say thanks and I'll take any help we can get. Yeah, if I if I may, Madam Vice Mayor, I just want to say, Connie, that um Reno High is now in my ward. It's it's a newer thing since November. Um gardening is definitely in my lane and I'd love to see what I can do to help you with this project. So, if you could reach out to me later, I'd appreciate that. Great. I will. Thank you so much. Kelly Jessel, followed by Jeffrey Bolato. Good morning, council. My name is Kelly Jes and I I am here in opposition to the Plumis u Mount Rose. Um I I've been working um against this project for a year and a half. It has been um difficult because the developer has been um um maybe not real clear about what exactly um plans to happen there. I've spoken, I've written um I've rallied my neighbors. Um I can be really brief about the things that that don't match. I think you all know um I'm I'm not a a a city person. I don't know the rules. Um I don't know the jargon, but I do understand um that I have six generation a sixth generation grandchild living in this neighborhood and I'm concerned about what this project will do. Um and I think that um the statutes the the the code is already there to deny this project. There isn't anything that's not clear about that. The ingress, the egress, traffic parking, parking, neighborhood character and density, safety and uh viab livability, project transparency, working within the framework of our overlay, um failure to meet um SPD SP that you know SPD um standards, inconsistency with the master plan, and no substantial benefit to the neighborhood. it doesn't fit. It doesn't work. And no zoning should um amendment should happen. Um one of the concerns that I have is it does open the door for future um uh precedents for zoning amendments and uh that concerns me also. Uh the houses are older. um if it's cheaper for a developer to plow down some houses as happened in this particular case to open property to stick another great big um apartment building um in it that's going to change the entire neighborhood that we love so much. So, I'd appreciate your um um voting this down today. I I don't think that it's in anybody's benefit for the city of Reno. Um I'm a longtime resident. I'm not a native, but my husband is, and as I said, my grandchild is a sixth generation. I work I I plan to invest a lot of effort to keep our our city and our neighborhood livable. Thank you, Jeffrey Bolato. Members, my name is Jeffrey Bolato. I'm here to speak also on the junction project there, Mount Rose and Plumis. Uh, I don't know if we can get uh this work here. So, um, what I'd like to show you here is the neighborhood. So, the empty lot there, that's the one you propose building on. Uh, a quick Google search will let you know that about 100 cars park on an acre. That is less than an acre, 0.99 acre to be exact. So, how are you going to get all these cars there? Plus, 39 units, that's probably one car per unit at least. Now, let's say there's two people or 25% of those people have two cars. Now, you're looking at 50 60 cars. Where are you going to put all these? Uh, I don't think this fits in any sort of way in this neighborhood. Um, my children walk to school down the street here. Um, uh, it what will happen there is at Ardmore, you will have cars dart out from that lot there. Go down to Ardore there. That is going to be a spot where my kid could possibly get run over. Um, in the morning at school time between 8 8:30 in the morning, it backs up back to Glen Manor there. There's cars just backed up. There's already a traffic problem in this area. And now you're going to dump 50 60 more cars into this and they're all going to be commuting, going downtown, going elsewhere in town to go work. There's no way this is going to be done in any sort of zoning rules that fit this neighborhood. It is being done to make money. And whoever is developing this is just looking for money on this. This is not something that fits the neighborhood. None of my neighbors like this at all. Thank you very much. You did still have additional time. They were working on the timer, so I'm running it on my phone. Sorry. You have a minute and 14 seconds. Okay. I I really don't have much else to say on this. Um, every one of my my neighbors though that I have talked to is in opposition to this. So, there is not one person in the neighborhood that I've spoken to, and I know my neighbors. I've been there a while. I know them. I've talked to a business owner in the area. He's not happy about it. There is not one person in this general area that likes this project, so please deny it. Uh, there's no one else signed in. I know the mayor had said that David Shakar could come back, but I think he's left. I just wanted to check. Did you want to speak on this item? Yeah, if we if he comes back in, we can move over to her name. Okay, that and I'll move to um Sorry. Sorry. We do have one more. Yes. Hi, I'm Lynn Divine. Um, I'm here in strong opposition to the Plumeus Mount Rose proposed change in zoning. Um, and a counsel, madame mayor, and especially Mikey, planning manager. Is he here today? I don't know him. Okay. Anyway, I'm a 33y year owner the 1600 block of Watt Street. I've been an RN for 45 years. One side of me is a 30-year educator. On the other side is a high school principal across the street, an engineer and his wife with two young children. We've all spent thousands paint, concrete fencing landscaping everything to keep this neighborhood up. Uh many bought in this area specifically for the zoning limits. I am three blocks from the proposed project with only one egress. uh project is just west of Ardmore which the last gentleman spoke about. Uh there are five streets between Ardmore and Glenn Manor and my Watt Street is in the middle of that. Okay. We already have a lot of commuting traffic. Um we have a lot of dogs, a lot of children. It's a safety concern. The last meeting of the neighborhood advisory board on the 19th of August, the planner proposed or the contractor proposed 39 units, 40 parking spaces. That cannot be serious. I mean, think about it. Like 39 units and only one car to a unit. I don't think that's realistic. Uh so I would ask all of you to please stay at the current zoning which is uh 25 ft height 14 units per acre and I think that fits in the real world. It's not that we don't want anything there. We don't want the zoning changed because we're happy. We love our neighborhood and we try and take care of it. Thank you so much for hearing us today. And with that, we have no additional public comment registered. We did receive seven comments that were general in nature or not directly associated with an agenda item prior to yesterday, September 23rd at 4 p.m. These comments were distributed as one letter of support, one letter in opposition, and five neutral are concerned. Okay. Thank you. We're going to move on to approval of the agenda, and I'll ask our city manager if we have any updates. Yes. Thank you very much. We're planning to go in the posted order with some slight changes. We'll do consent pull then take pulled consent items later in the day. We have a lot of people in the audience audience for particular topics and we usually want to move those topics to the top of the list. So the first thing we'll do is consent poll followed by item C1 so the presentation can move on and then from there we'll either go in order or we'll make arrangements depending on the audience participation. and the members. We do have a staff briefing at lunch. So, we will need to take a lunch and then we'll do the complete council agenda and then we will open up the RDA and do that agenda separately. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Can we get a motion? A move. Second. We have a motion to second. All those in favor? I. Motion carries unanimously. Move on to approval of the minutes. Move to approve. Second. We have a motion to second. Any comments? Any changes? All those in favor? I motion carries unanimously. Okay, we're going to move on to a consent agenda and we'll start to the left with Council Member Eert, do you have agenda items that you'd like to pull and then we'll hear them later in the afternoon? Not at this time. Okay. Um, Councilwoman Der. No, I have none. Thank you. Nothing, Madam Vice Mayor. Thank you so much. Uh, Council Member, nothing from me. Thank you. Okay. Madame Mayor, do you have anything that you'd like to pull from consent? Move to approve as written. Second. We do have public comment though on one of the items. Okay. Yes. We'll move into public comment. Thank you. Alex Stroop. Hi. Um, members of the council. Um, my name my name is Alex Stroop. I'm 19 years old. I have I've worked at the city of Reno at Sierra Kids for three and a half years now and I've been on the city's youth council for two years. Um, back in May, I was asked to write a write a grant for the for the for a Sierra kids project for a fall Lego c for Lego fall camp. And I was really happy last June to see that it it did get approved. I was really really excited about that. our um this grant is for $2,500 and it goes towards a Lego fall camp starting on October 6th that involves buying this Lego STEM kit that I think the kids are going to be really thrilled with. If there's one thing working at this working with kids for three years has taught me is that they love Legos. If I forget to get them out, I will hear about it. Um so yes, I'm pretty excited. I'm pretty excited that this is on the agenda. I'm really excited to see this come true. I'm really I'm really grateful to have had this opportunity to write this and to make a difference in this way. I really did want to thank Landon from the grant department. He made a he made a big difference in my opinion. I I could not have done this without him and his involvement really meant a lot and um you guys approving this really means a lot too. So hopefully we'll be able to do some good things for the kids and uh thank you guys. Thank you very much. Okay, we had a motion and a second on the consent. Any other questions? All those in favor? I. Motion carries unanimously. And now I believe we'll move into a presentation. Um item C1. This is just a discussion item. Thank you for being here. So we have the slide. Emerson. Always good to see you, my friend. You too, Councilman. Nice to see you. Thank you for letting us be here today, Madame Mayor, Council. Um, we are here today to talk a little bit about the Nevada Air National Guard and our connection here to the Reno community. I'm with Brigider General David Chovin for this presentation. Um, I will start with some of the things we'll talk about today. We'll talk about the Nevada Air Guard in Reno, our past and present, our connection here to the Northern Nevada, our mission sets through tactical airlift, and what we call DOM ops or domestic operations, uh economic impact here. Um, also, uh, the community development, skilled labor force, community partnerships, and what we're really here today and finally here today to talk about is the importance of our organizational organizational strategic priority to upgrade our fleet of C130H aircraft to to sustain the unit here in Reno into the future and increase the capability of our air crew. This there's also a handout that we provided with that information. So, I am kind of a history nerd. a University of Nevada Reno uh graduate with a masters in history. So I I'll start with the beginning. This is our founding documents in the Nevada Air National Guard dated 12 April 1948 which got federal recognition for the Nevada Air National Guard's 192nd Fighter Squadron. Throughout uh the history of the Nevada Air National Guard, we've included members of our community with missions that focused not only on our nation's needs, but also our state's needs. Uh in 1980, um we got featured in a airman art magazine article that dubbed us the high rollers of Reno. And you can see the article right here in the presentation. um obviously uh a link to Nevada's uh legalized gambling history here in Reno, Nevada. Um at the time they were a reconnaissance unit and as you can see at the very top it says they are the best at what they do and we were and we took a lot of pride and what we did throughout our history here in the in in the biggest little city. So uh just a little if you see our aircraft at the airport in Reno, you will see the high roller tail flash. So, if you just call us the high rollers, that's fine with us. This is us today. 1,200 personnel strong um working over there at the south runway of the Reno Tahoe International Airport. Uh this photo was taken about two years ago. Um if you see us out there through your window while your plane's taxiing to its gate, just wave to us. Uh I I know that a lot of people that's their only impression of us here in Reno is when they're getting when they're flying in and out of the airport, they see the unit, but we've like I said been here since 1948. So without further ado, I will introduce well actually before I introduce them. This is our organizational chart. As you see on the right, that's the blue is the Air National Guard. And with me today is the assistant agent general of the Nevada Air National Guard, Brigadier General David Chovin. So without further ado, take that. So just to echo uh Cap Captain Marcus, thank you guys for giving us this opportunity today. It's good to be here and speak to you. Um a little bit about myself, I'm Brigadier General David Chauan. I've been in the Air Force and Air Guard a combined 27 years. Uh pilot by nature. Uh started out flying C5 aircraft down in Northern California when I started in active duty. flew a lot of uh Iraqi missions there. Uh was a pilot training instructor, joined the Nevada Air Guard in 2008, flew C130s, a lot of Afghanistan flying at that point in time. Stopped flying in 2018, and I've been in state headquarters working in leadership capacity since then. On the outside, I'm a captain at Southwest Airlines. So, if you're flying the Friendly Skies out of our uh great airport here, look up front to the left, you see a bald guy, it might be me, but there's a lot of us that look the same. So, just use caution. So, just kind of break it down to tell you a little bit about us. Uh, three major mission sets that we have. We'll start down south at Nellis Air Force Base. We do operational test and evaluation on uh fighter aircraft F-16s F-22s F-35s A-10s and we have a squadron down there that works with the active duty. Um up here in Reno in northern Nevada, we do the uh Intel ISR mission with our DCGS squadron, which is a remnant of the old RF4s with the cameras. So, it's the follow on to that. And then the one that most people know about the tactical airlift of the C130s. Um so, you guys are getting a real Air Force briefing today. It start with an overview of everything we're going to talk about. So, I always have three points. So, I'm going to hit on three points. basically our how we relate to the community. So starting with mission sets. So we talked about tactical airlift. Our selling point right now is in the last two years we've been to all seven continents which most guard units don't get the opportunity to do that even Antarctica. So we supported the uh science foundation the national science foundation this year doing that. And we operate on a three-year deployment cycle which supports the federal mission that we have tactical airlift. what we'd like to focus on is the domestic operations which is how we give back to the community with this organization. So the big highlight that it is the C130s, the firefighting that you can see in the picture there. Um this year we've dropped over a million pounds of retardant and we were called last winter which was completely out of cycle to support the LA fires. Um what I also want to talk about is directly where you may see impact in the community is uh we have a counterdrug program and a civil support team program CST. Counterdrug does reconnaissance working with our local law enforcement for uh drug seizures and whatnot. And they are actually out in the school a big a big portion of their program is drug prevention. So you'll see them out in the schools right now. They're at Demani High working with those kids uh giving them other options. uh the civil support team uh it's a group of scientists. So if we have some unknown substance that gets found like at the courthouse or something like that, they get called again work with law enforcement to look for chemical biological agents uh to support those guys. Uh point two, the economic impact and we did give you guys this report. This was created by the University of Nevada. So total jobs that we give to the community 1,295 total throughout the state 95% of those in Reno. The economic impact to the entire state 123 million through salaries and whatnot. Of that 113 million is in Wo County uh in this area. So 92% total on that. And the last thing and what I feel is the most important uh is our community impact. So I don't want to call anyone out but there was a guardsman who spoke earlier and as he spoke he was very passionate about what he was speaking about and I heard the words my neighbors my community. That's how we all feel. We're all neighbors here. We are in the community. What makes us unique in the active duty is the active duty kind of comes and goes. We are here embedded in the community and community members. Some of us have been here our entire lives. Um, as far as outreach, uh, we plan on working with the, uh, city of Reno on the Veterans Day flyover this year to provide an aircraft to do that. The biggest thing we have there is we would like to do more. So, anything that we can do to support the community, we are here and ready to serve. Uh, the next aspect I want to talk about is what we provide to the youth of the community. uh to join the military. Uh if you join the Nevada Air National Guard, you get a 100% tuition waiver for the local uh colleges. And we have quite a few airmen that come in. They take advantage of that. Some stay for 20 years, some get out after four years and go on and do things in the community. And uh a unique thing is the Air Force training we receive. So we have a diverse group of people out in the civilian sector. Again, only 20% of our force is full-time. 80% is part-time. So as diverse from HVAC to doctors, we they get that training in the Air Force along with that education and then contribute to the uh community in that uh in that uh regard. The biggest thing that ties it all in is the Air Force core values. Integrity first, ser. And I want to specifically talk about this gentleman in the picture. This was Master Sergeant Mike Lans uh Lansbury. He was a math teacher at Sparks Middle School and uh he took those um he took those values uh seriously and he was uh when they had a gunman at the school he stepped up protect kids' lives. So just know that our airmen are out there living those core values and they bring it to the community. They bring it to the workforce and they share it with the community. So why we're here because we have to ask for something right. Um, what I've learned in my 27 years is without the community, guard units suffer tremendously. They kind of die on the vine. And the city of Reno has always been a tremendous supporter of us back from the F4 days through the C130s. Always there. We want to continue to ask for that advocation. We appreciate everything you guys do. We, like I said, we are within the fabric of this uh or of this uh city. We want to continue to do that. The biggest threat that we have that keeps me up at night is not upgrading our aircraft to C130J models. Um we have been working uh with the Department of Defense try to do this. It's a it's a um appropriations thing. We always compete. I think we will get there. I'm confident we would get there. What I would ask um for this council is to support us and advocate for us like it because we scream from the ceiling tops that hey this is absolutely vital for us to have sustainability out here in Reno and it it brings a uniqueness to what we do out here. So again, thank you for all the support that we have received and our ask would be moving forward to continue to advocate for us in the manner that you guys always have been. So with that, the ending of every good air force uh briefing would be any questions for myself or Captain Marcus. Thank you for the presentation. I'll start to my right with council member Anderson. Thank you for the presentation and I was able to go on this flight. I'm up there in my blue shirt and I was just absolutely bowled over by the professionalism and how impressed I was with every airman that we were being served by. Um, my question to you is what kinds of advocacy would be the most powerful from a body like this in your in your opinion? I I just think get getting out there to the mass because here's something we deal with. A lot of a lot of the local community, they don't know we're out there. And if you go out in uniform, you get asked a lot, hey, are you Navy guys from Fallon? Just to know that this is a unique uniquely like honestly uniquely Reno um thing that we have going on here, the Air National Guard and the great work that we do. And hey, when these fires kick off, like we're the ones out there fighting it. We serve this nation overseas, much like the active duty does. and it and just like the economic impact and the education that we bring to the to to the community. So, I would say awareness and like the great work that we do would be the biggest thing because I think people lose sight of that. On the firefighting side of things, um we've been really working hard on prevention and education for major emergent events. would it make sense to invite your team to any of those events that we're having in the community so that your you know your part of that um that process is represented? Would you do you have a team that can come out into the community and work with us? Absolutely, ma'am. And um as far as like uh boots on the ground, I I will say this, I'll speak to my counterparts, the army. They actually have boots on the ground like prevention type people, but we have the experts that fly the the aircraft and we can it would absolutely be an honor to attend that because we could speak to like the ramifications if those measures aren't taken. Again, we could work with our army counterparts that kind of talk about some of the things that we can do for prevention. And I think it would give us again community outreach, the strong presence of having us there because like again, we are in the fabric of this community. It's our houses that burn too. So, we absolutely would want to be a part of that and and support whatever efforts are going on. Councilman Martinez, thanks so much, Madam Vice Mayor, and thank you all for being here and sharing the information that you are participating. It's an honor to know that we I definitely feel a lot more protected uh with the work that you're doing and unfortunately I was sick the day that this tour got offered, but I'm really looking forward to uh jumping on board and seeing what you all have to offer and in it in terms of advocating for the needs and hopefully we can put together a good strong message to make sure that you get the funding you deserve to upgrade the equipment that you need. Thank you again for your commitment to our city and for being great neighbors in our community. Appreciate it. And I'm glad you didn't fly if you were sick because getting on that thing dehydrated, it's probably not a good call. Council member Reese. Thank you, Madam Vice Mayor. And first of all, thank you for being here. Tell me again your title so I can address you appropriately. Uh so I am uh Brigadier General Dave Chauan. Okay, we'll just say Dave for now, but Dave would is I'm working on it with you. So a couple of things. First of all, I want to thank you um for the presentation. Of course, I also am in this picture and had the privilege of going up in it. Uh it it was really um a great experience from an elected person's perspective because we don't always have the opportunity to interact, but the uh air persons who were there very impressive, every one of them. And of course, I have known uh Captain Marcus for a number of years. He's such a great representative for your organization, always representing both himself and you all and this community in such a positive way. So, I'm grateful for him for his leadership. Um, what I will say is, and I think Miss Anderson hinted at this, um, I, as soon as we got off this plane, I, um, called our senator's offices in in, uh, Washington DC, and asked them what we were doing to make sure that we got to be one of these locations for the new, um, C, is it the 130J? It's the conversion. And so, um, I think they're very aware of it, and I believe both of our US senators are fighting for it. Um, what I think is potentially important is that perhaps, and I'll I'll look to Madame Mayor on this, is that we can author a letter of support for that conversion program because I do think it is vitally important not only for um the future success of uh the high rollers here in Reno, but the missions that you support that empower our community to fight fires, to go to Antarctica to support critical missions. Um, and we have had the privilege of course over the years of having even employees in the city of Reno who also serve. And so I I would hate for our um community be left out or on the chopping block in that appropriations call. I know Senator I'm sorry, Congressman Ammedday is also incredibly supportive of the program. So you have all of us who want very much to fight for you and we'll do whatever we can to make that happen. Uh, of course that is a testament to your leadership and um the history that this community has been blessed with. So many uh great folks working for the NA Nevada Air National Guard. So I thank you for it. And Mr. Rea, I appreciate I appreciate that. Like on I I'll touch on this what I alluded to some communities that don't support a letter like you're talking about. Communities have forwarded those letters saying the opposite. We don't want this new aircraft here. We want this to leave. So that I greatly appreciate the effort to do that. That you know those are the type of things that matter. That's where I say when I see it go the other way when the community doesn't support guard units that that's exact I mean that is the specific example I'm talking about. So I I appreciate your kind words and we would look forward to that. That would be tremendous for us. Well sir, this community does support you. It always has. Um, you know, it was scary to be up in that plane and when you open the back and I see Captain Marcus out there taking pictures and on a tether to it, I'm glued to the wall just fearing for my life. But it was a pretty incredible experience and I know Miss Der and I also uh were seated next to one another. I just held on for dear life and held her hand. So, it was pretty cool. Uh, well, council member, I appreciate being your support animal on that day. We call that a wingman on in a wingman. We call it an animal up here. Yeah. Um, thank you so much for being here. Um, Brigadier General Dave. Um, and Emerson Marcus, who I've known for a long time. Yes, I'm in the picture, too, in the olive green sweatshirt. I wanted to dress for the part. Um, but this is not the first time I've I've had the opportunity to fly with you. And um during the 2005 flood um the Air National Guard was very supportive of our mission at the Truckucky River Flood Project. Um you not you personally but the team took us up and down the entire um Truckucky River areas that were flooded Hidden Valley all the way out to Pyramid. Uh I was one of those people hanging out on a tether but in a helicopter taking pictures you know to record the experience for uh the group there. Um subsequent to that um the Air National Guard took about 23 members of our community up in also a helicopter um to tour the river again. Um I don't think they do those um exercises anymore. maybe I mean a lot of risk there with the entire community sort of like here where you have a bunch of elected officials but um it was very powerful and I have a similar picture to this on my wall that is a pride that was presented to me um by actually the core of engineers who arranged the flight that day for the 23 members of the public and um it's those kind of experiences that really bring home what you do. It's it's one thing to hear about it spoken. It's another thing to be up in the air with you experiencing it and um to the extent you can I just want to encourage you to keep doing these kind of missions. Um it really makes it real as I said to to us elected officials to um you know the general public. I mean 23 members average citizens got to go up. They're not elected. They're not I was not elected at the time either. um and to see uh the bench depth, the depth of experience and the professionalism is is remarkable as seen it firsthand. So I joined um council member Reese in terms of wanting to do a letter of support for you uh whatever we can do to support the base. I also had an opportunity to go out and visit your entire operation on the ground uh on a weekend. Um there were there were educational opportunities offered to the community at large. I didn't announce I was elected official. I just took my husband and we checked out the entire operation. It was really good presentation. So, thanks for being here and I I think the whole council probably is fully supportive of where where you are and where you're going. Well, thank you, ma'am. And those weekends, I will throw this out there. In those two days, we do what the active duty does in 30 days. So, you got to see it in full full motion. So, yeah. Yeah. And I'm happy to be anybody's support animal any day. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Um, Brigadier General Dave, is that is that that works? Okay, that works. Okay. And Captain Marcus, it's so nice to see you. I always feel like you're still in my living room. No, really. You know, he was on Was it two? I was on RG. Yeah. Oh, you were? How come I always felt like I' I've seen you on channel two? No, you were in your Wow. Maybe you were in your living room reading. Maybe that's what it is. But um it's so it is so nice to see you. Thank you both for your service. I'm going to leave the flying up to you. I'm an white knuckle flyer. You do not want to sit next to me. So I always keep my feet on the ground. I only fly if I absolutely have to. But your service is so commendable. We are happy to write a letter of support um for what whatever initiatives uh that you think can be helpful. So, uh, we really appreciate you being here today and educating us. I think it's important, especially for the service that you do for our country and for our community. Um, that we understand exactly uh the things that you do that are commendable, but also um so needed, so needed in our country. So, we're just grateful. So, come anytime. You're welcome. Anytime, but please let us know how we can help you. And if I have to go up there, just get me a pack of Dramamine and we'll be good. And I will not be taking the support animal with me a while because because I'm trying to spare you. Oh okay. Well, thank you. Yeah. So, thank you so much. Thank you. Um, council member Oh, go ahead. I didn't Your light wasn't on, so I apologize. Didn't mean to skip over you. Go ahead. Um, well, uh, everything's kind of been covered already, but I just want to say I also support you and, um, we had a mayor for the day here a while back and her dad works with you guys and, uh, is my neighbor. So, I I really, um, feel like you guys are in the community and I appreciate everything you do. And, um, I live in Ward 4 and sometimes when there's fires, we have a lot of planes coming and going at the Ste airport um, in that area filling up with water and things like that. So, I really um am aware of what you guys do and I appreciate um everything. So, thank you. Thank you. Well, we appreciate all of you, too. Thank you so much for the support. Thank you so much. I believe we're moving on to D3, D4, and D5. Are are we skipping? Is that what we're doing? Where are we at? D3 D4 D5 D3, I think. Okay. So, we are going to move forward to D3 through D5. Yes. Okay. Perfect. So, uh, Madame Clerk, I'm going to send it back to you for public comment. Uh, Pamela Bo, followed by Derek Cormer. Is it Cromemer? I think. All right. Emily, come on up. Yeah, you're good. Come on. Good afternoon. I'm here just to with um to my name is Pamela Bo and I'm a resident of Ardmore Drive which is uh going to be affected by the uh proposed uh zoning change to the area. The one thing that I was uh wanted to comment on was that the proposed the project that has been proposed to support this change is totally out of fit with the neighborhood and the area. It doesn't fit the infill and redevelopment require um description within the city plan which says that buildings should be oriented consistent with the traditional structures found in the blocks. Blocky and blank multi-story forms devoid of articulation should not be permitted. Multifamily buildings or units should be designed to appear as separate homes from the street. Those are all that's all pulled directly from the infill and red development requirements within the um inner inner city area. Uh there's been there's plenty of comment related to traffic and congestion and I just wanted to be here in person to see you guys and tell you that I'm I'm here to to support what the planning commission said which is to u they did not approve it. The neighborhood advisory board pre presented a great letter that summarized all the comment in that that said do not approve and I'm hoping that that's the route that you take. Please do not approve this project. Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you Derek Chromemer followed by Audrey Dela Cruz via Zoom. Hello and thank you for letting me speak today and thank you also for representing our city. I'm not against a building in that property. I am against what they proposed as you see up there. It uh it's just not in the character of our area. I live directly across the street on the corner of Ardmore and Plumis. So, I'm aware of the traffic. You've already heard all that. I'm aware of the impact on the people walking everywhere. As they said, we don't have continuous walking paths in the area. Uh it's just it will change our neighborhood and the surrounding area. It's not in keeping with the area. Uh the short and long-term needs of parking will be incredible. Uh the negative impact, I've already said it's just changing the direction of the city of Reno. What I'm mainly against is changing the rules of the area. So it would change from a mixed uh neighborhood area to a suburban. I'm against that. And I'm also changing the ability to develop I think would change the city of Reno. Also, there are other places that they can go and they can use this to change what is being built. And I'm against that. And as a I moved here in 1964 when Yeah. I didn't know anything. And I've been through the school system. I've worked for the school system. I am aware of what's happened in our area. And I know we need places for people to live. I don't think this is going to address a lot of those people's needs. Why? The cost of the to live there. The cost of my home is out of my reach at this point in time, but I was lucky about it at the right time. Okay. But I'm just against this. We already agreed to something. I think we should stick with that. Thank you very much for listening to me. Thank you so much, Madam Clerk. Um, I can I get you to reset the clock? I don't know if that's Is it bro? Oh, sorry. It's broken. So, yes. Um, can I I'm curious though. 1964. Yeah. Just give me a quick overview. What was Reno like in 1964? Well, it was uh hustling and bustling. I was five. I thought I'd have a horse. You thought you'd have a horse? Yeah. We were we were coming from New York uh on Long Island. I would think I'd have a horse, too. I was thinking I'd have a horse. Um we did have friends that let us ride their horses. The last stop light was just down the street here. Um do you remember Brewster was just built? Do you remember Hash Lane? Oh my god, that was McCarron. I got a speeding ticket there. Um, I remember a lot of places that are I hate it when I walk around town and I say things to people and they they look at me like I'm crazy. But, uh, yeah, I remember when I played Kino. Yeah, I remember. Everybody looks at me and goes, you've already told us. Don't say it again. Anyway, well, thank you, sir. I appreciate it. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. Enjoy your day. All right. Come back anytime. Um, just for those present, the timer is non-responsive. So, I'm running it on my cell phone and I will hit the end timer sound. Okay. As applicable. So, I am monitoring. Sorry. That's okay. There's a Maybe you could just turn off the clock. Is that a possible? I no control over it whatsoever. Someone has to It's gone ro cuz I looked up and I said, "Have I spoken for 36 minutes cuz it's in the red." No. No. I was like, I promise you I'm monitoring. Apologies. Thank you so much. Just let us know your patience and I'll try to I'll try to work with you. So, if I'm overstepping my bounds, please call me out. No, no worries. Thanks so much. Um, Audrey Dela Cruz via Zoom. Is that Audrey? Audrey Dela Cruz. Audrey. Oh, hi Audrey. Hey there. Can you guys hear me? Yes, we can now. Um, I thought I was going to speak on F1. Is that Is now the time for F1? No. No. We just had you raise your hand and we weren't sure which item. So, I'll move you over. Sorry. No, no problem. I'll move you over. I'll wait. Okay. Kelly Jes. All right. You're Kelly. Hi Kelly. Okay. Hi, different Kelly. Um, I I spoke in the pre Oh, good good afternoon. Um, I'm Kelly Jesh. I'm a resident on Watt Street in Reno. Um, I've been aware of this project at Mount Rose and Plumus for a year and a half. Um, I spoke previously in public comment um about my concerns. Um, I think that a zoning amendment is not warranted for this project. I would appreciate um the the council also being in opposition to this. Um there are multiple concerns. Um and I would say that my primary concerns are that this feels a lot like um an effort to press changes in our neighborhood without neighborhood voice. Um we haven't had an opportunity to review this. We haven't had an opportunity to have input. um because the project continues to change um and the developer um has not been able to answer questions that have been cogent to the concerns that are there. Um in I I as I spoke before egress ingress um benefit to the neighborhood does not exist. Um, of course we have traffic, of course we have um um fire concerns um but without a project u defined then we can't really answer those questions. So I would really hope that we maintain um what the neighborhood requested. I sat on the master planning committee in the 90s. Um I'm very aware of what in those days we wanted um for the future of our neighborhood. Um, and uh, this feels a lot like um, taking that work and erasing it um, for the benefit of of the developer. So, I would appreciate um, your opposition to the zoning change to this project. Thank you. There's no one else registered. Um, we did receive correspondence which has been distributed as one letter of support, 16 letters in opposition, and three neutral are concerned. Okay, thank you so much. Um, Jonathan, you can scratch that. I've had my locations wrong. Oh, thank you very much. Okay. And we just need to open the public hearing. Okay. Oh, sorry. Um, I thought we had one more person on Zoom. No. No. Okay. Wrong item. All right. Madam clerk, I'd now like to open the public hearing. Um has proper notice been given and any correspondence received? Uh yes, proper notice was given and then correspondence was distributed as one letter of support, 16 letters in opposition and three neutral are concerned. Okay. And then I'm going to send this uh to the one and only Carl Hall. Take your turn. Ordinance introduction bill number 7319 for possible action. and LDC2-000018 Mount Rose Junction master plan amendment and zoning map amendment ordinance to amend title 18 chapter 1802 of the Reno Municipal Code entitled zoning reszoning a 0.99 acre site located on the west side of Plum Street approximately 145 ft south of its intersection with Mount Rose Street for multif family residential 14 units per acre MF14 to specific plan district SPD together with matters which pertain to or are necessary connected there with word two. Okay. Thank you so much. All right. At this time, the floor is yours. Good afternoon, Madam Mayor, members of the council. For the record, Mike Reley, planning manager with development services. I'm here to present case number LDC25-000018, the Mount Rose Junction Specific Plan District. Just to get you familiar with the site, it's just under an acre uh on the west side of Plum Street, south of Mount Rose, highlighted on the screen in yellow. To give you a little bit of frame of reference that everybody seems familiar with, the the pink Victorian home that used to be the recording studio is directly to the north of this side. I think everybody uses that as a landmark in the neighborhood. I think Millie Vanilia at one time recorded there if I I think they did. If I have my history right, where's Alicia Barber? She might know that our historian, where'd she go? Is she still here? No. Okay, we'll have to ask her. She knows all the history, but that was I don't know what 20 30 years ago at least. Could at least he's saying okay, go ahead. So, there are two components to this request um before you this afternoon. The first is a master plan amendment from mixed neighborhood to suburban mixed use. Um as you can see on the left is the existing designation proposed on the right. So, there is suburban mixed use to the north and to the west of the project site. The second component is a zoning map amendment from multif family residential 14 units per acre MF14 to specific plan district SPD. Um the specific plan district uses the NC neighborhood commercial zone for the base zoning district. Um and through the SPD, the applicant proposes to make the following modifications. To increase the allowed height from 25 feet, which is designated in the Plumis neighborhood overlay, to 38 ft. Increase density from the base of 30 dwelling units per acre permitted in NC to 40 dwelling units per acre. And then in in addition, they are proposing some um sustainability components which I'll get into shortly. But before we go any further, I kind of want to just let the council know what the purpose of an SPD is, what an SPD is. So this slide is essentially taken from code. It's to accommodate projects where design and configuration of uses are functionally integrated and I think as it's been mentioned previously in public comment, requires a heightened level of scrutiny to apply appropriate restrictions to ensure compatibility with surrounding uses. Um, as part of that SPD process, you can modify the underlying zoning regulations. And really the idea is to provide a a general public benefit and asurances of how the project will develop over time. And I think that's important. If you look at some of the recent SPDs that have come through, for example, the White Lake Commerce Center in Cold Springs, they varied standards in terms of allowed industrial uses and whatnot. But we were able to look at the site plan that they were proposing and provide some very specific development standards for buffering, for hours of operation, for screening, for circulation, those sorts of things. Same thing on a on a smaller scale. The Notables SPD for Notables music therapy services, they came through. They wanted to do some additional uses at their site, concerts, and that were so we're able to modify the standards but fully address the impacts that they might have. So the handbook does include a site plan. However, I think it's important to note that this is a concept only. The standards that are included in the handbook do not require implementation of this site plan. This site plan simply is is a concept that would meet the standards that are included in the handbook. But there's nothing to require that to be developed. Um, as I mentioned earlier, they the applicant is proposing some sustainability requirements, which would be a minimum of four low impact development, storm water strategies, um, water-wise planting standards, provisions that far exceed code in terms of recycling and areas designated for recycling, increased building transparency, and then promotion of car pooling and transit services within the facility itself. Staff would recommend changes to be included in the handbook in order to to gain support of the project which would be provide a project plan specific project plan and site plan. Um modifications of the development standards to address that plan so we can fully analyze impacts and make sure that it properly relates to the surrounding environment. Uh define a process for plan amendments and modifications. I think it's also important to note that this SPD runs with the land, not with the developer. So if if this project were to be sold, we want to provide the public with a a firm understanding of what can be done there. Um so that really we eliminate those surprises on the back end, so to speak, and then also address any other uses that are permitted with the NC zone that would technically be permitted at this location. The area is generally um for the Plumis neighborhood overlay the the area of most mixeduse development within that plan area. As you can see to the north we have offices, the former recording studio. Um to the east we have single family residences across Plumis. Um a mix of duplex and single family residences to the south and then commercial to the west which is um this the 7-Eleven, the coffee bar, those uses that are occurring along Mount Rose Street itself. Um, this just kind of gives you a quick comparison of of what the the NC requirements would be per as compared to the specific plan district. So, generally speaking, the the setbacks are that are proposed have increased. Um, as you see, I think the real the key ones are the density is increasing by approximately 10 dwelling units per acre and then the building height increasing to 38 feet over the the 25 ft that's mandated in the Plumis neighborhood overlay. This was presented to the planning commission on June 5th of this year. Um that vote resulted in a technical denial, three in favor and three opposed. Um which failed to move the project forward. Um really if you look at at the minutes of the planning commission, the lack of specifics was their key concern. Um it was it was stated that this was a a workaround of the Plumis overlay standards. um and really kind of concerns over the relevance of the Plumis overlay standards given other master plan goals and policies. Um but primarily a focus on the last lack of specificity. Um with that the staff is bringing forward the recommendation from the planning commission which would be to deni to deny the request. However, the applicant has reached out and indicated that they are willing to make some changes. Um, so I I would kind of want to walk you through what that process would be should the council choose to go that direction. Um, it would be to update the specific plan district handbook to include obviously a specific plan, updated standards, and any details to reflect community input, direction from council, um, plan fix plan flexibility as I previously discussed. Um, staff would then review those changes and provide comments back to the applicant. the applicant would respond to those and incorporate those into the handbook. Um, all edits would be incorporated into a final document and then staff would prepare a staff report and take that back to the planning commission because it would be substantially changed from what they had reviewed previously. Um, so with that, if staff or if council would like to take that route, an alternative motion would be basically a summary of what I just explained that process. So with that, I'll conclude my presentation and answer any questions you might have. Okay, Mike, thank you. I think you are tremendous. Thank you. Really, um, you you know how to do this job so well. Thank you very much. Great feedback. Okay, I think it's all you, Brooklyn. Come on up. Good afternoon, Madame Mayor, uh, city council. My name is Brooke Oswald, uh, representing uh, the project today. We are looking at that M Rose project. Uh we have been working with staff and talking to them. We are in agreement of the alternative motion that they have proposed and uh would be willing to go that route if it if the council would decide that way. Uh Mount Ro Junction. Uh our team really quick uh park uh real estate partners that's George Graham with us today. Um, Odyssey Engineering has helped us through a lot of our traffic and our infrastructure and parking and so forth. Uh, Mac Associates doing our architectural work. He's done a number of infill projects throughout our community. And then I'm the ERC group. Uh, work in land planning. Have worked in this for several years and, uh, an urban planner. Uh, quickly to go over Park Real Estate's partners and what they've done for our community and what they've provided. Uh first is our the Haskell Road project. A beautiful little uh 31-bedroom units down just off of Midtown. They really restored that whole area, brought in some commercial and some other things and it's really provided a great opportunity there. One of the great things about that, there were two big beautiful trees on site and they were able to save those. The second is uh 320 Grand Canyon. Another 18 one-bedroom units. Uh those got completed. That's the blue there with that kind of in the same area as the Grand Canyon Muse. 25 units. Uh those are two bedrooms and uh one-bedroom units. Uh Winter Street, this is a new one. It's being constructed right downtown now that many of you know. So part of that redevelopment of downtown over in uh where Jacobs is doing some work and just off the river there. Uh excited about that project. And then our project Mount Rose Junction, which is the orange project there. Um as you can see, they really has concentrated on that infield development. And this is really integral to our community that these developers that work on these infill projects because they're harder and they take a lot more time and they take a lot more experience to kind of get them going. And finally is a a last one that George worked on Summit Ridge town homes. These are four rent town homes. These were up the old Kmart up by McCarron up there. They took the old surface parking lot had been vacant and were able to reuse that for housing. So George has had a lot of dedication to providing housing in our community. Uh quickly just show you some theater. Grand Canyon Muse. As you can see, that's a threestory uh building there. Uh very similar to the project we're proposing. Uh the beautiful Haskell Row. You can see the trees out front. And then the Summit Ridge uh town homes, another sort of three-story project in a multifamily unit. What is the the goals of Park Real Estate Partners and goals? As I've kind of shown you, we're really concentrating on those infill. It's to build highquality modern multifamily projects. This is why some of our heights and some of our changes go is we're uh modern buildings take a little different configuration than we've had in the past to to make them uh adaptable to modern lifestyles. Really has focused on that core and info fill locations. Especially this location, we're seeing that pedestrians uh friendly supporting those local business because we're right in that be that neighborhood core of the hub and 7-Eleven and just a really unique little neighborhood hub that we have there. and then create projects enhancing the quality for life and residents and neighbors and then uh you know really to build projects we're proud of. And as you can see out of all all those projects except for one he sold all the infill projects he's maintained and and and does and has a great rental history on those. Our project site is a oneacre vacant uh site. It's commercially adjacent uses for the most part. This is a really unique opportunity. um we don't often see acre vacant acre sites within our core area that we want to redevelop uh being available. It's very hard to assemble land and to do that and this is a great opportunity that we have here and we need to take advantage of using that land both effectively and efficiently. Uh we have great access off of Plumis. That's one that's a a major roadway running north south. Um we have our infrastructures and our services in place so we're not adding additional burden to the city. We've already estab you know our our sewer is in place, our water is in place. It's easily extendable. So this is a a value to the city of this pro this process. Additionally, it's that walkability and public transit. We have transit stop runs both down Plumus there and then we have the great little neighborhood core that is if we see more density and other opportunities there that helps to support those little those areas. quickly to go over our master plan request. And I think the big thing here to see is really that mixed neighborhood, which is the orange, and we're going to the SMU, which is the suburban mixeduse. As you can tell, really, we're just expanding that really great active uh suburban core. We're actually trying to expand that and help support it more. And that's part of that master plan, that SMU. with that with that Nc zoning that we have directly to the west of the site and our MF current MF14 we proposed to go to the SPD in Mount Rose. Now we use that NC zoning as our base zoning. What's really special about that SPD is it allows us to put other uh codes, restrictions, requirements in place that provide that public benefit. And I'll I'll kind of move forward to show how we we've done that and and proposed to do that. Uh why these changes? Uh there's currently a tenative map on for 17 town homes. I think where where we're seeing the financial systems changing and different things changing that makes it very hard to pencil and those would be become incredibly expensive units and what we're proposing provides an opportunity to really provide a more mix of housing and an opportunity for a more diverse group of people to to uh have that availability of housing. Uh George's experience is in rentals and not in for sales properties because and you as shown he's he's done a number of those. The site is rare one acre. This is just we need to take advantage of this and the the location is ideal for density. We're right on the road. We're adjacent to those commercial units uh pedestrian access. And this really addresses the city's major objective to add density to infill locations rather than continuing to sprawl out. The other thing we talk about all the time here is we are limited on land in how we develop. Quick comparison, our MF14, that's multif family 14 units per acre. Within our code, we do have a micro density increase that would allow up to 21 units. With the NC that would allow up to 52 units with that, what we're doing is saying straight out we would ask for 39 units, which is roughly that 40 units per acre. We we cannot use any bonus densities or any way to approve it. So it's our transparency to the public is you know what you're going to get. If we build multif family, we are building a maximum of 39 units. We can't use any other system to do that. Our maximum height, there was a minor deviation done. We are allowed to go to 27.5 ft in NNC. You're allowed to go to 35 ft. We're asking to go to 38 feet. And once again, we put those restrictions that we can use. no flexibility standards to raise that any higher. So the highest we can ever build is 38 feet. And as you can see between that 35 and 38, that really is just a minor deviation that is an administrative process to get that three extra feet. That three extra feet is important uh because it does allow higher ceilings which is more that modern building 9 foot to 10 foot ceiling. It also allows us to put those utilities and uh havoc uh heating air conditioning units on the roof moving removing them from the ground level or sides and the noise that's loud. Uh commercial units MF14 they're limited and NC they're allowed and then we've actually come back and limited those NC units more appropriately and and had some uh of those uses that we didn't think were appropriate. We've moved moved that our side setbacks are 5T, 10 ft, and then 10T plus. Mike mentioned the 10 ft, but our setback of anything over 27 1/2 ft from our southern boundary is actually 30 feet. So, we can't build 30 feet until we're away from our southern boundary. There is a roof rip pitch required in that Plumis overlay. And so, it would be required in both the MS14 and 16. Uh we do not require a roof pitch and Mike mentioned sustainability. There is no sustainability standards within the standard zonings and we are requiring additional uh standards and requirements to help benefit our community. Conceptual layout. What we're looking at currently is you can see the to the north of the project there is three buildings. Uh we've defined our access utilities as you can see. We come in we are parked per city code. We're not trying to ask for any deviations of code at all. We will park a minimum of one per unit. If our units are bigger, we would have to provide that additional parking. Um, I have included the Grand Canyon Muse that was a in in uh Council Member Martinez's ward, a recently developed project that George did. And as you can see, that's a three-story building and how it fits within the context of the neighborhood. It's been a highly successful project and and has um sort of helped to spur some revitalization, improvement of that neighborhood. uh the our parking exceeds code or we we will meet code and then we have worked with both engineering and and fire from the city of Reno to ensure that our access is proper that that it would um that it meets the standards and with fire we've made sure that we would meet all fire standards with with our current proposed project here. Uh these were not included in the handbook but we have brought these out after going to planning commission and wanted to see a little bit more. This would be if you're on Puma Street and you are looking west. Uh potenti where you can see is that big setback that we've set back that uh the building from the MF14 multif family 14 that are currently a number of uh smaller homes and we've oriented that height really over towards the Mount Rose or Plumus as you can see the recording studio there being comparable in height to our building. Additionally, this would be looking from the Mount Rose way of looking that you can see that you know those buildings and what's allowed along that or that SMU if they upzoned uh some of their things that that the opportunity to kind of how this fits into the neighborhood. So, what we've heard and how we're responding, uh it's that lack of specific design. We're providing the conceptual plans and those elevations. We'd like the opportunity to further work with staff to get those uh more implemented in the handbook so we have more clarity on that. uh the traffic and response one of the things we have done and looked at this NDOT is actually say traffic has on plumus has declined 23% those are NDOT uh traffic studies and and that's really kind of interesting that 39 units will only increase the traffic about 4% on there our response to height the 27 approved uh we've increased that setback uh and moved our our stuff to the commercial properties density and parking as I illustrated before uh apartments versus single pan uh family. Really what we need in these neighborhoods is diversity housing. We see a lot of multifamily housing are in there and even some of those older units are 40 existing units are 40 units per acre and don't require and don't uh provide the parking that we're providing in the sound surrounding neighborhood. So it's not unprecedented to see this density uh just in that little core area. And then architecture design, we'd like to add a couple uh more additional handbook requirements and I'll kind of go through those really quick. Uh there is that uh Plumis has that roof slope. We would like to have the the flat roofs because that allows us to put our Havoc units up above so they're not on the side of the building or on the ground that they're noisy. It increases the space or the usability for the the tenants to use that space. So the flat roof is important, but what we'd like to say is we'd like to 25% of the roof would be pitched and so that we can get some pitching in that roof, but still have the ability to to move our utilities up up above. Additionally, with our architecture design, we'd like to go above code. So we would do a minimum of six architectural design elements that would be along the front of the project and then four on on um design elements on our other facads. So, we're trying to improve the overall sort of project look and and help uh it be more characteristic of the neighborhood. And last, I'd just like to, you know, I I worked on the master plan. I worked on the update of of of this and really this is a project having been at the city and and out here that meets so many of our master plan goals. That's really one of them providing that mix of housing uh that we so need. Um and that it's the support of those small businesses density and and the ability to have other commercial uses helps to support those that gives an ingrained customer to those businesses along Mount Rose. We need to use that land efficiently. Uh we are scarce on land in Reno. Um it's that equitability and sustainability. uh that provision of be uh providing opportunities for people to have housing in nice neighborhoods and we provided the sustainable elements, walkability and transit and then also those fiscal responsibilities as we're seeing from a tax base and a tax uh purpose those land values and property values that helps the city continue to provide their services and do what they need to do with those increased property taxes. With that, I'll end and I'm available for questions. Thank you. All right. Thank you so much, Brooklyn. Okay. I'm gonna bring it back to the body and I'm going to start um with Councilman Reese. Would you like to start with comments? Oh, sure. Um I wanted to see Mr. first, I think, and maybe can we load Mr.'s presentation. Mr. Just help me situate something because this has been the confusion that I have faced on this. So, there was this plan or there was a a proposal or design or something of this um developer to bring housing to this lot, but I think the confusion has been people didn't quite understand what they didn't understand how many because there weren't these other extra requirements that we require in the SPD. So, how did it get as far as it got without that? And so that's maybe the situational question I have because from my perspective, we as a body are very supportive of um you know infill housing within the McCarron loop. We've had Shane Phillips come and help us to figure out how we can address the housing and affordability crisis. We're talking a lot about smaller units, parking density. So it seems like it checks a lot of boxes. But then I looked at the like procedural minutia of how it got here. And that's what concerned me, right? these neighbors who have come out today and who have written, you know, their the desire of their hearts was not that they wanted nothing built there, but they didn't totally understand what was to be built there and they got mixed signals, I think, and that was their objection, not so much an objection to building anything there. So, how did we get here? Why why did it get this far without having those other things done? Yeah. And I just want to know, you know this, you know this, we love public engagement and I want to make sure were those neighbors met with. No. Well, that's a big red flag for me. I get really upset whenever we don't meet with neighbors. Okay, Brooklyn, you know, you know. Well, and we did we attended two. Okay. And and and hold on, Mr. really if I could just the mayor's point is well taken and part of the discussion point that I want to have with you is that that SPD process it is one of the processes that allows the neighbors to have input and to know what's coming and to wrestle with the issues of parking and density right um I think it did go through some ward advisory problems and quite frankly I think this developer has shown himself to be a good neighbor right not I'm not saying on this specific project but there's all these other projects around Reno where I drive by them and I think, hey, we're we're making some headway here. But I don't understand the procedural posture that got us to this point. And I think it's why the planning commission rejected it. Right. Though the planning commission largely favors the kind of development that's being conceptually proposed, but without the details, the public doesn't know what it is. And so they are rightfully fearful of the thing which could change. It could get sold to someone else. We we are looking for certainty and we want those public engagement processes to lead us to that point. And and look, like I said, I think that the developer has done really good projects in all throughout Reno. We want investment in our community in that way, but to do it, we have to have the neighbors involved. So, does my question make sense? Yeah. And I guess kind of the short answer I was going to give is the devil's in the details, right? So, that's that's really where staff was coming from. If you look at the planning commission staff report for example, there was a condition that numerous changes be made to the handbook and it was really to try to narrow down those details. Um I think you know in if if we have the opportunity to work with the applicant we probably can nail down a lot of a lot of the the questions that are still out there. Um, a large chunk of those details are actually covered in standard code. And if you look at the the handbook, it defaults back to code for Are you talking about like height or you talking about the height? Excluding the height and the density, but setbacks, um, you know, parking, that sort of thing. That's that's addressed in code. They're not asking for deviations there. In fact, they're increasing the setbacks in in all instances. Well, how do you know that? I when you say that, I could not find that, right? And again, you hear the neighbors who are saying it's just changed. There haven't been like as open lines of communication as we would have liked. I I want to lean into what the specific neighbors are looking for in that neighborhood, but I don't know how that would have happened in this process. And it's no fault of staffs. I'm not saying you did something wrong, Mr. You have a great reputation among our community and among this body, but something was broken. And I'm trying to figure out what part was broken so we can avoid that because at the end of the day you've made some alternate recommendation which I want to hear from the ward member about her thoughts about that. But I I'm sort of inclined to agree that this has got to go back to planning and go through a same process that we would expect everyone to go through. Right. Oh, sorry. No, no, go ahead, Mike. So sorry. And I think a good example was when this was originally submitted to us, there was no site plan whatsoever. No concept plan at all. it was just the standards and staff was not comfortable with that moving forward at all. So we then required a site was you know it's a specific plan district we need a specific plan um and and we have specific plans in the city that have numerous alternative site plans you know depending on it could be this it could be that but there's an assurance that this is what you get if these are built. So the site plan that is in there they did add the site plan that was we said that we would not take that forward to planning commission until there was that in there. Unfortunately, that site plan, there's nothing to lock that in. So, we want and that's if you look at the the plan commission staff report and those that supplemental condition was to do that. And it seems now that maybe there's more of a willingness to to work with staff to do that. But at the time that was not presented and so we went with what we had and essentially the planning commission was not comfortable with that and and staff is bringing their recommendation forward based on that lack of which is also for denial. Right. So let me just close my part madame mayor and I've gone over I think by a minute um by my watch. Um I understand why a developer gets kind of squishy with that too because to do that there's a a considerable expense the thing you're talking about um and then they don't know whether they are going to be able to get it passed right so they spend a hundred grand to do all those fancy widgets they come in front of us and we say no right but I think what happens in the process that I think has played out in other projects even where neighbors are fundamentally opposed to a project they at least need to be heard they need to have the ability to have input or changes. They have to have the ability to say, "Well, we are okay with this." Like I see in one chart you say, "This land could support 52 units." And then I see the applicant is only proposing 39. And in my mind, I say that sounds like a a good thing. We asked for higher density. It would have gone up to 52. And I ultimately don't know what will be built here because it's not really in front of me today. That that's the problem. So, thank you so much for that. And I'll close my time. Um, a couple things I want to say. I am so impressed with the neighborhood. All of you, I assume, are the neighborhood and back there, right? I am so impressed. Um because you said, listen, we're not opposed to something, but it needs to be well thought out. Um that is very rare that we hear that. Um and so, and I think people also don't understand that people have property rights, they have the right to build. Um there's these guidelines that we have to follow. And so sometimes I think um it is incredibly helpful when the neighbors also understand that something might be built there based on their allowed zoning and use, but there's a lot of different ways to do this to make it much better as a neighborhood. Um I grew up in this neighborhood. I love this neighborhood. I think you have to be very very sensitive to the charm, the his history around the neighborhood. Um, I hate it and I hate I shouldn't say this because this is not they don't they frown upon this when we when we say this legal does but I I love to see when there's thought brought into that significance of the neighborhood. It's very hard I think when we do um there's a name for it. Maybe it's functional obsolescence. Um, where you can see this very old charming neighborhood and then all of a sudden you see this big monstrosity modern structure and it just feels and looks so out of place from the character which we all love. The walkability, the little, you know, coffee shop there and the 7-Eleven that I got kicked out of many times when I was about 10. Um, and so I know this neighborhood really, really well. You're very very fortunate, sir, to have such a beautiful piece of property to build something great. Um, I would take advantage of that opportunity to do it the right way with the community. Um, but I do have major major um concern about the parking. The parking in that area is already really challenging. I know because I go to 7-Eleven still. Um, I have major concern over the parking and um, and again, I shouldn't mention this, but the design um, that we're going to be looking at because um, that neighborhood is so unique and so special. We can't, I believe, if I'm right, unless something's changed that we don't get to uh, dictate the design. Typically, we can take our recommendations, but there we that's out of our purview. I would just stress that. I couldn't stress that enough. But there are some things particularly with parking and then going above and beyond in the density and you know I I'm very concerned of seeing this modern concrete structure in an area where the m the trees are mature and they're really beautiful and so and again I went back to red flags with um you know the outreach and that's a really unfortunate missed opportunity to get something right and um so I I think this has a lot of challenges es. Um, but I can't support something until we get in the room with uh, you know, the neighbors because it um is ultimately where they live first. So, I'm going to send it to uh, Councilwoman Der because uh, I'm sure you have um, yeah, I'm sure you have a lot of comments. So, go right ahead. Well, I have some comments anyway. Okay. Um, so I think it's important just to get take a moment and just get a look at the history here. So, you have this acre lot and according to the applicant, there were six homes there um that were in bad condition. Those were torn down. They That's why we have a vacant 1acre parcel. Um a proposal came in and the applicant under MF14 could build 14 town homes and they got a density bonus and they were approved to build 17 town homes and that was approved and you didn't see this level of objection. There was some objection. You know, some people might not want anything, but generally it was accepted. It was within the zoning and they weren't asking for these kind of changes and it met the height limitations, the density limitations. Um, it is zoned MF14 and I do support infill and density, but the question is how much is too much? So, MF14 today, you'd be going from six homes to 14 or 17 as was approved. That's an increase in density quite a bit. Um that's a almost a three time increase in density. But what the applicant is asking for now and in fact they said you could get an exemption up to 21 and that's a 50% increase over the MF4 with just today with keeping the zoning as it is. You could go from six homes to 21 with no changes. And I think that that uh residents would need to live with that because that's how it's zoned. But what they're asking for is to increase the zoning three times. Um and I think what's important here is it's been mentioned that developer has property rights. And one of the things I come back with is so do the people who have invested for a long time in this community. They too have property rights and they too have u invested increased their home value uh added to the neighborhood and they have a right um to try to maintain their neighborhood and that is one reason that there is a plumis overlay plan that they're seeking to have no more than two stories uh no more than 25 ft and even with two stories and 25 ft you can significantly increase the density on this site. So, my struggle um there was a comment about the Plumis being a major artery. Yes, but it is a I drive it at least two times a day. This intersection, it is a one to two lane road. It It might It's not a major artery like a threelane two-way road. It is a artery, yes, but very very narrow. And there are daily daily backups at both um um Plum and at Mount Rose uh where Plumis intersects. Um so what I just want to say is while there have been objections about the lack of a specific plan and a design and that that's incredibly important with an SPD because what are we actually talking about here? You're surrounded by a certain zoning and the request is to do something different. And if I could have 30 more seconds and I'll come back on a second round. The request is to do something different. And often that would be what we call spot zoning, but instead of spot zoning, which generally isn't approved, they've asked for SPD to change the zoning. But when you go to change the zoning, they've mentioned the need for community benefit. Often you have to balance that with, okay, where are you going above and beyond to help the neighborhood? we want this thing, but are you giving back and are the things that you're giving back the things that the neighbors care about? You might be giving back solar, which might be something I care about, but not nec it's not going to necessarily help the rest of the um residents in that area. So, um my issues really have to do with scale. If you look at that uh recording studio and you saw the mass of the building next to it, it's really a contextual issue. Um the density, I think 39 is just too many. the height. There is a reason for an overlay. You can maximize the density without violating the Plumis overlay plan. And I think that is a good balance. That's a good way to balance this project. Increase density, but respect the rules that are in place. So, I'll come back with a second round. But those are my general um issues. It's not just I didn't see a plan. I already know I don't like the plan. That kind of thing. I think my issue has to do with density and height. Thank you. Okay. Thanks. so much. Um, Councilwoman Taylor, you have your light on. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Um, I I have a question for Chris, please. Or Mike. Mike, sorry. Um, it's it's a procedural question, and I, you know, I'm usually I'm very supportive in infill. I'm I support this this project, but my question is why did we get to this point with the SPD and not having the specific information in there? Was it and this is why I want to know if it's our team that we need to do a better time, you know, better um effort working with the applicant, then that's something that we need to work on. But usually our team I have a lot of confidence in. We'll sit down with the applicant. We'll go through the process. We tell them what we want to hear or what we need to see to get them to the next phase. I feel like we do a very good job there. So, how how did this happen without I don't want you to throw anybody under the bus, but there are things in this SPD that aren't up to what we normally see. So, in in this case, I would say we put a a high degree of confidence in code requirements. Okay. Um, we did ask for for the plan for a conceptual plan to be included. Um because staff was not comfortable with the fact that there was nothing holding them to that plan, we did add for any structure over the 27.5 ft a minor site plan review process into the handbook. So it gave us a system of checks and balances where this would have to come back for another discretionary review no matter what. So we weren't just giving a blank check that you can do whatever you want. there was going to be another level of review. Um that in in addition to what the the conditions required in the planning commission staff report as far as those edits felt that staff would still maintain control at the end of the day and be able to make sure that it met we would be able to look at whatever final product came back and determine the impacts to the adjacent properties and have the ability to make conditions to address those. So what has happened between then and now? You're not getting the information that you need. You're not correct. Okay. You're just not getting the information that you need, which is a concern. Yes. Um because we wouldn't be here today. It doesn't seem like with a denial recommendation. Sta staff would like a a specific plan that we can fully evaluate. This is the plan. We know that this is what it is. Okay. What are those impacts? And you have communicated that to the applicant and it has not been met. Correct. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Madame Mayor. Um hold on one second. I don't see any other council members have their green light on. If that's the case, you do. Okay. Um I was going to go just to let everyone know, we have a couple more public comments that we didn't uh put into the record. We're going to do that, but um I'm going to send it to um Councilwoman Anderson and then uh I'm going to uh move forward with the vote and then just make sure your lights on so I can call on you. Go ahead, Councilwoman Anderson. You know, I don't I actually just want to hear Miss Door's second round of um comments. So, I just wanted to All right. Councilman Martinez. Yeah. Thanks so much, Madam Mayor, and thank you uh to the applicant and staff for trying to work together to figure out uh um a solution or try to move forward. I appreciate to all the residents reaching out. this um part of WI 3 is the first time that sort of encompasses just that eastern part of this parcel and so I heard a lot from residents sort of in the Armar uh east of Plumis between Midtown section and uh there are a lot of concerns that folks have and I don't think it's necessarily a reflection on some of the past projects that you've done Mr. program. Um, I think I've been uh appreciative and uh supportive of the work that you've done sort of in the Wells uh historical district and some of the work there. It just seems like in terms of processes and specificity, there was a lack of information that was provided both to the planning commission, to the residents, to our staff to be able to be supportive. And I'm glad to hear from uh Mr. Oswald about the support for the alternate uh motion and making sure that we find a solution uh moving forward and has still have that time uh to continue the conversation with everybody included in that conversation. So just appreciative of you wanting to come to the table and work together with us to to come to a conclusion and a solution for this project. Thanks so much for the time, Madame Mayor. Thank you. Go ahead, Councilman. Madam Mayor, I'll be brief because I think I went over the first time, but I I suppose what I want the public to understand and to the applicant, Mr. Graham, is that I am not passing judgment on height issues today or even density because I think those are things that have to go to the NAB and have to have very specific conversations around it. There's some information in the packet that suggests there have been a lot of accommodations already made, but I I just want you to hear that what we hope for is good neighbors, right? We want you to be successful as a property owner, Mr. program and to build the kind of affordable and attainable housing that people need. Um, but we also want to be able to observe the importance of the master plan and those things. And at the end of the day, it sounds like you've worked through some of those things. And so, I don't believe anyone's trying to rake you over the coals. And as I've suggested earlier, there are great things about the type of product that you've introduced to our community. I I want to give it another round before I really have an opinion. Right. Miss Der has already I think said that there are things she is concerned about and those concerns you'll work through with her as part of that process too because she is the ward representative. But for my part I want to un make sure you hear that what we're balancing is competing needs and concerns when existing neighborhoods are being asked to have new infill projects in them and these happen in every time we have those infill projects and on this dis we have a divergence of opinion about that. It's kind of why we brought Shane Phillips to Reno, who was the expert in housing issues, um, which talked to us a lot about reducing parking requirements and, uh, increasing densities and the bonus densities, and we have approved those projects. Um, and so I'll sort of reserve my comments for the next time I see this project when it comes back. Okay. Um, Councilwoman, I'm gonna Sorry, I'm going to skip over you, Councilwoman Dur, and go to Okay. Councilwoman Eert, go ahead. Yeah. Um, I just wanted to make some comments. I think it's really important that we stick to the master plan just kind of as a philosophy, but also if we're going to consider making changes and we need to make sure that we have um all the all the details ironed out and um since we don't I have a lot of concerns for the existing community. Um I know that there's um code and different things like that, but I think that um in order to kind of meet the standard of what changing a master plan um we should um just make sure we take all the steps necessary to protect the existing area and um you know the people impact. So thank you. All right. Thank you so much. I'm gonna hand it to um Councilwoman Der and then I would like you to give me a motion and my opinion would you want to Oh, right. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. I'm going to let you make comments. I'm going to go to Donna and then we're going to come back. All right. Okay. All right. Um so my experience with SPDs and I've had quite a few in my ward is that they want to do something different than the zoning would allow. And so they work with the neighbors to design the thing that will get support from the neighbors and I've seen it over and over. One that really sticks out in my mind is one that was done by Ken Crater for just a couple acres to build um independent living town homes etc. right near Virginia Lake and the residents totally supported what he was doing and it was a very significant increase in density but there were design considerations that were taken in um it dealt with this Plumas plan etc. Um, the applicants said that they went to two NABs and and that they've talked with the residents, but what I find at the NABS is that they're talking at the at the attendees. There's not a big dialogue and then the NAB members say what they think. So, it's sort of one way each way from both the developer and the NAB members. But the a concept of working with um does not happen. There's not a sitting down and rolling up the sleeves and spending an hour discussing a proposal. Um, I was really impressed. The NAB members took time to write individual comments and I have individual comments from Donna Keats, uh, from Shawn McCoy. These are members of the NAB and Sean's a relatively new member, Mike Ginsburg, who is still an alternate member. Um, all took time to write specific comments from their perspective, trying to seek Jackie's vision of having the NAB input mean more mean more. And so I really appreciated their comments. Um, it's clear to me that the project needs more work. The question today for us is, are we going to design the project at the podium here and send them back to the planning commission with our view of what the project should be? I don't feel like I'm up to that job. I don't think I should be designing the project from the podium. I think it needs a fresh start. Um, I think the staff tried to do it, too. They put in a bunch of conditions to get at what the design should be that should have been in the plan itself and then said come back and visit with us some more. And that's an iterative incremental process that doesn't it's very hard to follow the moving ball so to speak. It's it's very hard to follow and see where we end up. So I'm not really comfortable with either of those approaches designing by condition or having us design. I'll tell you what I think. I don't know if the council will agree. Um both the planning commission and our staff are recommending denial. They didn't come in with a recommendation to go back to planning commission. The if if this is denied, uh the applicant can certainly do two things. They could resubmit with a very significant change fairly quickly or they could wait a year and resubmit the same darn project. That's how this works. So, I think they have every opportunity to revisit once they have a plan nailed down that I don't think either we the planning commission or our staff should be designing for them. I think they should design it with the public. And so, um, Madame Mayor, if once we get to the committee, I know you want to hear from other So, I'm going to um give it to you for a um we hear from the public. Yes. To make a motion. Uh we're going to and my opinion would be to deny and I'm going to send it to public comment and that's going to be correct. Lauren, do we have two? Uh just one I believe Donna Keats. Okay Donna it's your turn. Donna Keats, for the record, thank you so much for letting me make a public comment. I don't know what happened to item C. I left my house at the end of the bees on my drive over. I hear people commenting on this project. I'm trying to drive and push my raise hand button at the same time and then I scooted right after too late. So, I appreciate the chance to do this and I want to thank all of you who took the trouble to talk on the phone with me before this meeting and those of you who read my letters and took them to heart. I really appreciate the opportunity to have communicated directly with you. Um, it's really big because this is really big for this area as Madame Mayor pointed out. So, so as to not bury the lead, as my council woman mentioned last night at our NAB, I think I want to ask you first and foremost that your recommendation be to deny, not send back to the planning commission. This will be the fourth meeting I've gone to on this project. I've spent hours in the background trying to help the Plumis residents with how to approach this, what it might mean, how about zoning code. I think we've wasted enough of everybody's time and I think they need to come back with something completely new which as me uh member door pointed out they can do pretty quickly if they want to keep coming back with this and another little change of this and we're just going to keep doing this. I think it's time to stop. I think we need to come back. The neighborhood the first neighborhood meeting happened at the NAB. There was no two-way conversation there. And then as far as process, which my main thing about all this is transparency and process. As far as process goes, you guys asked about how did it get this far. It got this far because the first staff report said I can't get anywhere. So, we'll put conditions in here for a minor conditional use permit and for some other site plan review and then we'll fine-tune it at that stage. And I just want to make my statement that for an SPD that needs to be evaluated on the front end, not later when there's no public hearing and people get a yellow card, but they don't get to have a public hearing. So that stuff needs to happen at first, not as a condition that we'll we'll get a chance to review compatibility later, which is how come it got this far in answer to your question because those were the conditions. Well, we'll do a a cup. We'll do a site plan review later. Then we'll figure out if it's compatible. So, that's the process that happened. That's what got you here. That's the question you asked. I wanted to let you know. I'm not trying to slam anybody, but that's what happened. That's what went to planning commission. On and on. Anyway, thank you so much for letting me speak before you took a vote on this. Um, and I even put on a clean shirt. Didn't have time to tuck it in, but did my best. Well, thank you, Donna. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, I'm going to send it back to you, uh, Councilwoman Der. Yeah. Oh, sorry. No, no, I'm so sorry, Megan. No, it's fine. Are you okay? Okay, perfect. Um, all right. Well, I'm I'm Excuse me. I'm just going to make this simple. Um, I don't feel comfortable redesigning this project at the podium. I think they need a fresh start and a chance to show their best work. Um therefore I'm going to uh mug a motion to uphold the recommendation of the planning commission and um deny the master plan amendment and zoning map amendment. And as doing so before I get a second, if I do get a second, um I need to say why. And in my opinion, I've gone through and circled um the findings that were supposed to make and the ones I didn't think that they did make. Um I want to make sure I have this in order. Um hold on one sec. The first one are the general review criterion considerations. Um I uh am finding difficulty with item one consistency with the Reno master plan. Two compliance with title 18 which again requires the certain things. Uh three mitigating traffic impacts and four providing a safe environment under the master plan amendment. Um, I don't believe they meet number two, which is activities and development allowed by the proposed land use will be reasonably compatible with nearby land uses. And under the last section, zoning map amendment, um, I just picked out three. There probably could be more, but item C, um, existing views and access to solar resources, new buildings, casting shadows. A taller building will affect nearby smaller buildings. I ensuring the development of the land as can measure it with the character uh of physical limitations of the land and M to ensure the protection of existing neighborhoods and communities. Um and so those were the findings that I was struggling to make. I am supportive of the project moving forward in a revised format. I just want to go on record as that. I'm supportive of infill. I think a great project can be built here. So I'm looking for a second. I will second. Okay. discussion. Councilman Oh, go ahead. I just wanted to kind of um support council member Derer in that. I don't um in theory have a problem with infill. I think it's something that we have to do. Um and I think again this project could be great if if we followed all the steps we have in place. Um and we have those in in place for a reason. So, um I hope that this um project gets modified, follows the the process it needs to. Um and then I'd be more than happy to support it. So, thank you. I just don't have time. Go ahead, Councilman Ree. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Um for my part, I have a question and so I'll need some un to clarify some understanding. So, I thought um and this is for you, Mr. Raleigh, so you'll have to come up. Um, so look, I think everyone is essentially on the same page, but I think there's a technical way about it that I'm trying to understand. So the alternate motion proposed that it go back to planning and go back to the ward uh process. Right. Correct. What is the difference between that and a denial? I I need to understand what the negative implication of a denial is to the developer who is trying to bring this project forward. So if the project were to be denied today by council, they would not be eligible to reapply for a project that was in essentially in conformance with what they're it would have to be significantly different um for a period of 12 months, right? And so that's why I cannot support the motion. Right? I support the concept and Miss Derer likes to lean in and and get consensus from the body, but I don't think that punishing the developer with a year-long process for them to come back with I don't know it might be the same, it might be different, I don't know. That's not right. Right. We are a community that is struggling with housing. Um it is important that we lean in. This is the hybrid of those two things. Right. It doesn't push it out a year. It says go back to the ward process. Go back to the planning commission. build a better project, but don't punish them. Right. I'm not down with that. So, I will not be supportive of the motion. I need to get clarity from Mr. on this. The way you said that is not the way I understand it. So, I would like some clarity. My understanding is if they wanted to submit substantially the same project, they would have to wait a year. If they wanted to submit a different project, which reduces uh the the numbers, let's say by 30% or some significant change, they could do that virtually immediately. Um that is what I've been informed. Can you clarify? That's correct. So they would they could not submit a project that was substantially the same, right? 39 units submit 37 units. So who gets to decide what is substantially the same? Generally speaking, we look at like a 10%. Yeah. So it's it's a you were placing the burden on the staff rather than on ourselves. Look, that that is not what we signed up to do. We are supposed to be trying to figure out a way to work together with developers and the neighborhoods to build the best project. I I trust that that process will play out and if it doesn't, it'll come in and it'll get denied, right? But I'm not saying that anyone should get bopped on the nose for a year because someone's decided that it's not enough of a difference because that's too gray for me. I I like certainty, right? And asking the um developer to wait a year is not fair. asking them to hit an arbitrary target of what how much of a change has happened is also not fair. I I want to support Miss Der. It is an important thing that we do that when ward members are offering motions, but not in a way that is hurtful to one of the essential components of this project, which is the developer. Okay, I appreciate that. Okay. Um have a motion. Councilwoman Anderson, Councilman Martinez. No. Yeah. Um I think I'll just add I feel um similar to some of the comments that council member Ree has brought up. I think it's uh I think I have just have one more question for you Mr. Riley if I can. If the alternative motion were to be something that the council were to move forward with can they still make substantial changes to the SPD and incorporate some of those through this process as well? Absolutely. Yes. Okay. So, the alternative motion could still get us to some substantial changes to the current application that they have. It could. Yeah. If they if they they're willing to do that, absolutely. That would allow for that. Okay. Because of that, I think I I won't be supportive of the motion, but I understand the position that you're in. Thank you so much, madam. Well, we have a motion on the table, so I'm going with that and then we can come back and revisit if we need to. So, I have a motion. I have a second. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed? No. No. Motion carries. Okay. Um, now we are gonna head into second motion. Oh, um, sorry. Um, go ahead, Councilwoman Der. I Are there second motions? If we've denied this first motion, I'll ask our attorneys, if you could, just for agenda D4 and D5. All right. Just to keep the record clean. Okay. Uh for agenda item D4, I move to uphold the recommendation of the planning commission and deny the master plan amendment with the um uh failure to make the findings I illuminated earlier. Second. Okay. I have a motion. I have a second. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed? No. No. Motion carries. Okay. Okay. And then for agenda item D5, I move to uphold the recommendation of the planning commission and deny the zoning map amendment with the um findings I was not able to make as articulated earlier. Okay. I have a motion from Councilwoman Der. I have a second from Councilwoman Eert. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed, no. No. Motion carries. Okay. Thanks everyone. I appreciate it. Um okay, we are going to actually move into the lear and I apologize. I need to leave and but I don't want to I I want to hear this item first because I think it's of the biggest s it's one of the biggest historical significance uh significant properties in the city. Um but I do want to make everyone aware that um I don't have a lot of time but I want to I want to be here for that. So let's find consensus on this item because it's super super important. Let's work together um and not do this fragmented if as we move forward. Okay. Okay. Madame clerk, do you have any public comment on item? Where are we? Come on. C4. C4. Yes. On mine it's C4. Um so I just want to clarify item C4. Yes. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Go right ahead. Uh Bradley Carlson followed by Edward Coleman followed by Alicia Barber. Okay, Bradley. Thank you, Madame Mayor, council members. Good afternoon. Now, for the record, uh Bradley Carlson, um I'm here today as a as a citizens resident. Um fifth generation. Um, my family was at the auction in May of 1868. So, that's kind of where my root caring for our community is. Um, I'm a commissioner on the historical resources commission, which is not why I'm speaking today, but I am concerned that this did come up so quickly. Uh, the historical resources commission was not notified that it was coming up or really advised on on the process or what was happening here. Um, I understand that the the direction really wasn't probably clear. I think going back to December, the uh historic the historic structure report was accepted and and then the next steps might need to be clarified. Um, I'm concerned that there's an at least an apparent lack of transparency with the way this has come onto the agenda today. Um and uh I'm I'm concerned that in the community that this lack of transparency is is eroding the community trust in in the process. Uh my request today is that you don't take action on it, but that you do have have a good conversation. I think there's a lot to be discussed and uh and direction that's needed to take the next steps forward. Um and uh I I think looking back at at the history of it, I think really what we have on the table right now is an acceptance of the historic structure report which was 300page document had a couple of good recommendations. The historical resources commission did weigh in on on that. Um and uh the next step you know I think we well I think we really need to get public engagement and so direction needs to be given for for how that public engagement happens moving forward. Um and uh and that engagement should consider that starting point of where we are with the historic structure report. Um good recommendations there. So um as far as the Historical Resources Commission, I'd like to see this go to the agenda of the of the HRC so that we can be involved and vet it. Um, historical resources commission is an an adviser on these things to the city council and we're, as I always say, we're we're a group of professionals and and passionate about the community and what we do and we're here. So, thank you very much. Edward Coleman followed by Alicia Barber. Hi Edward. Hi. It's been a while. Where have you been? I've been hiding. Okay. Sometimes we have to do that. Got to protect our mental health, right? Okay. Go right ahead, Edward. Great to see you. So, hello to the Reno City Council and everyone attending online and in person. My name is Dr. Edward Coleman. I'm the executive director of the Black Community Collective or the BCC. I'm honored to be here with you all today. I'm proud to be at this meeting in a state known for resilience and determination, battleorn, and in a city known for its ability to defy the expectations of its size, the biggest little city. Today, I'm going to share the BCC's vision that's been born from resilience, determination, and the belief that we can defy the odds. Our vision is one of transformation for the space known as the Lear Theater into the Paul R. Williams Cultural Center. The Paul R. Williams Cultural Center is a space that will be open and accessible to all, grounded in the culture of overcoming the odds that makes Reno unique. We see this as a space, this space is a place to cherish and share the history of the people who made Reno home and honor the architect who built the building and the family who later saved it. We're going to have to we imagine a stage where people will come and enjoy the spectacle of death drops, twirls, flips, and dips or have their conscious consciousness elevated by the spoken word or by an independent film. We see people being moved by the rhythm of dance or witnessing the drama inherent in live plays. In the BCC's vision for the Paul R. Williams Cultural Center, we see room for local Reno artists to share their art, be that digital, paintings, fashion, historic, or a range of other mediums and space for other nonprofits and for-profits. We can imagine programming that will not only display but also enrich the culture of Reno by inviting the world in and sharing those things that make Reno so special to us all. The BCC did not get here alone. We stood on the shoulders of those who've come before us. Art Town, architects like Mercedes de la Garza and community leaders like the late Kenneth Dalton. We understand the scope and the type of board, foundation, and funding needed to realize and sustain this vision. The BCC also did not come here alone. We have relations with a range of local businesses and community interests that would rally to support our vision. We've also contacted outside black arts curators who oversee collections dedicated to the life of Paul R. Williams. The past track record for this task may seem daunting, but we hail from the biggest little city where we defy expectations. In a state that calls itself battleborne, we are equal to this task. I invite you all to work with the BCC to achieve this goal and allow the Paul R. Williams Cultural Center to serve as the crown jewel of downtown Reno and as a legacy to all of those who've gone before us. Thank you. Thank you so much. Alicia Barber. Okay. So, I I just need you to clarify. Didn't Millie Vanilli actually record in that recording studio? You should know this. No. You don't remember? Remember the recording studio? We was here. I know it and I love it. I'm pretty sure. Oh, okay. Okay. Cuz I'm like, but that was 30 years ago. 20 30 years ago. Yeah. How you said 40? 40 years ago. 40 years ago. I was trying not to date us too much. But that she's acting like, "Oh, that happened yesterday." I'm all No, I think it was a long time ago. So, we got to find that. Okay. Go right ahead. Nice to see you. Thank you. Glad you're here. It's great to see you. We don't get to see you in person enough. So, I know the floor is yours. Take it away. Thank you. And um and I had some comments I was going to deliver, but I just I just changed everything I was going to write. So I just wrote these. I want to make sure I get to some points. I'm not sure how long it will take. I I don't think it'll be more than three minutes. So Okay. No, it's fine. Go ahead. Good afternoon, Mayor Chiev, council members, Miss Bryant. Um I am for the record Dr. Alicia Barber, professional historian, historic preservation professional and writer. And one thing I write is the Barber brief, which I I have sent to you. Um, I I have, as you know, objected to have objected to having this item on today's agenda because I I don't believe that the very well-intentioned letter about the LER that the city received is actually an offer to lease or buy the LER, the First Church of Christ scientist. Serious credible offers of course trigger the policy that requires the city to consider the disposition of the property, which is in front of you today. Um, but whether or not I believe it qualifies, here we are, right? So, I want to move forward from that. Um, it's also been pointed out to me, and I do want to acknowledge this, that the promises that were made by Mayor Shivy, um, Council Member Dur last December to form a Friends of the Lear committee or Council Member Reese's statement before that that there would be public engagement once the historic structure report was complete were not formally agreed upon decisions voted upon by city council. So, I I want to acknowledge that and that's something that I I think we all need to be clear and I think it's partially why we're here. Um many in the community, myself included, expected that to happen as I think you can understand based on um those discussions. But as someone who is constantly drawing attention to public process, I want to acknowledge that there's currently no formal direction on what the city should do next regarding this building. Um so, it's good to be having a discussion. I'm concerned, a little worried that this item today doesn't provide you with the freedom to give staff more creative direction than what the property dispersal policy allows, but perhaps it does. Maybe it gives you more freedom um than than I read into it. I want to offer some suggestions for a path forward. Um and they just come from me. As you know, I care deeply about this building. Uh, obviously I don't recommend that you prepare the property for sale, that you enter into an exclusive negotiation with Miss Hassler, or that you put the building up for auction. Um, I also don't recommend though that you direct staff at this point to issue an RFP or RFQ. And here's why. Um, I think there's a lot to be determined still about the role that the city should play with the building from this point forward. an RFP or RFQ needs to establish some basic parameters that I don't think we're able to establish at this meeting today without really having a discussion about it. Um what role the city should be playing if it's something that's very wide open. I don't think that would be appro appropriate for this moment. The historic structure report has taken us beyond that. You know, it's not just sort of what are ideas for what people could do. We actually have made some great progress here. Are you looking to have some outside entity take it over entirely from fundraising and renovation and managing whatever it becomes start to finish? That's the same approach Arttown tried to take. That's the same approach their predecessors tried to take. It's very very hard to do. These are very very specialized discreet types of of tasks. Is there instead value in breaking it up? you know, the historic structure report outlines basically two options for the design that would fulfill all of the existing requirements for its use. Oh, I'm so sorry. Can I Okay. Um, and preserve the building's historic integrity and Paul River Williams design. And they provide a lot of flexibility, too, especially the option with the flat floor. Um, the city could, I think, and should make a decision that one of these options will be followed. I think the city could either form or establish a partnership as as a or as or with a fundraising group since none of this can happen without money. and the city doesn't have the money as we know, right? Um there might be some redevelopment funds that could be directed toward it, right? Maybe make up for the ARPA funds that were lost. If you can give staff direction today to perhaps either allow allow for a dedicated meeting to kind of catch everyone up in dialogue, um something the community and the HRC can attend. I don't think that's moving backwards. I don't think that's like h we've already been there. We didn't quite do that yet. And there are a lot of people with a lot of expertise and knowledge here that can help continue the me the momentum that you started. The parameters of any RFP or RFQ are going to have to be discussed by the HRC and Shipo anyway because of all these constraints and covenants and I just feel like you can't give that informed detailed direction today. I think it would be a mistake to ask for qualifications to do everything from start to finish. Um if you will vote today to direct staff to orchestrate some kind of public meeting, I will make the commitment to help. I want to make the commitment to help. I will volunteer. I will arrange meetings. I will contact people. I will write agendas. I will organize materials. I will do anything that it requires. Lastly, I want to let you know this. Um, I've been asked to teach UNR's advanced course in historic preservation survey and planning this spring. It begins in January. And if I accept that, which I was still trying to decide, this can be a course project could be helping shepherd the public process through for this. It would be a great partnership with the university. this is an advanced course of advanced undergraduate and graduate students with me. Um, and I think that we could help make it happen because I know it's always budget and I know it's always staffing. I will do anything myself and I think this could be a great way to move forward. So, if if that kind of motion could be something that could happen, okay, not you know. Okay, I know I went over. Thank you so much. No, no, no, no. That's so great. I want you to stay right there. Stay right there. Okay. Because you just committed yourself to a lot. I know. And I'm going to hold you to it. I thought about it long and hard. And Alicia, we have had conversations Yeah. over the years about this building and how important it is. I here's the thing and I I feel terrible and I want to apologize to my council. I want to apologize to you and anyone listening um because I do have to get up but this is so so so important. It is I think the most important and to be honest with you look at how it stands. The reason why we wanted to fight so hard for it is because the reason why I think we all feel passion we want it to stay in the city's purview or at least deed restricted city purview is just is my thought but because you know I don't know but we never wanted that building to ever be a tear down ever and my fear is if you let it go some developer gets a hold of it or some nonprofit says oh our intention is this and we've seen so many times with intentions be this and end up this I couldn't agree with you more I don't want to belabor I I do want to just remind every or not remind but tell people why we got here. There was a um a proposal that came into the city. I looked at it. Um no disrespect. It has a lot to be desired. This is like one of those it's such a heavy lift that there's so much more intricate detail that needs to go into a proposal when that happens. That's nor there. I don't even want to I don't even want to touch that today. But I didn't want to take it off the agenda because I wanted to have this exact kind kind of conversation better now more than ever. I am a short-timer here. We, you know, I want to get to it now. Um because it's something that we've fought so hard to keep a hold of and um and so whatever we can possibly do, I love your recommendations. I would like to make a motion unless um anyone wants to speak, but I don't we don't have a lot of time because I've got to leave. But I did I do want to say I love your ideas. I am absolutely going to hold your feet to the fire on this with helping us g get the direction and where we need to go. Um because this is going to take some heavy lifting and it's just got to stay um in this community and it's got to be the asset that we all want to love and see and and cherish. Um and so um but that's why we are here. So, I would love to make a motion if we could bring it back for um what are we calling that, Alicia? What are we calling that? A a public meeting. Yeah, but like start the call it the Lear Summit. Yeah, we're going to start the Lear Summit, right? I love it. We're starting the Lear Summit. Um, so I'd like to step back and talk about with the community and talk about with the council together what the next steps are. What and have you help lead us in this process? Is that you think that's good? Madame Mayor, I'll second it for discussion. Okay. Go ahead, Ashley. Ashley, attorney assistant city manager. Um, for the record, Madam Mayor, Dr. Dr. Barbara and I were discussing, I'd just like to know, do you want this to be um hosted at the Historic Resources Commission? Do you just want a general public workshop and we invite all? I just And I would say it should always, this is just my thought and maybe Alicia it I'm wrong here, but um I would like to always say go to the historic resources because then you guys can give recommendations. I feel like you're everyone there is a little more of an expert. What do you think? Um, not the other way around. On it, but or joint. What about a joint meeting? What do you recommend? I I I mean, I just wrote all that right now, so I'm not sure. But I mean, I think having a It's kind of like the planning commission. I mean, having a historic resources commission meeting that has this on the agenda for a discussion about this next step makes sense to me. It's on the city register. they have had discussions to us for recommendations or or feedback or what their ideas are, right? I think that makes sense and allow them to agendaize it. Yeah. Okay, let's do that. Um, which would be their meeting would be in the first second week of October, so it's pretty soon, right? Yeah, let's do that. Um, and then I can still decide whether or not I'm teaching this class. I'd love to do this though. Uh, and I think that would be good. That gets us somewhere in a couple weeks. Yeah. And then they can give advice and we can have the discussion procedurally. Does that Okay, that's my motion. Madame Mayor, I've second it. And for the purpose of discussion, I want to just say a couple of things. Um first, um Dr. Barber, uh everything you've said resonated with me. Uh so I appreciate the thoughtfulness of your offer. It it is a big commitment and and I hope you'll take some time to think about whether that's really the goal. I I love the idea of your students being able to workshop this. Um I workshopped it at Harvard a couple of weeks ago. It was my project in my cohort at Harvard. Um, and what I will say to you is that um, I will I think you've got to go more than just a a historic resource commission meeting. It's like a workshop. I Miss Dur's even posited that sometimes it's like us talking at you. I don't want it us talking at you. Um, so I want it to be much broader than that. But I will commit $5,000 of my discretionary fund to make sure that that is facilitated, that it is organized in a way that is meaningful to our community. I of course uh hope that it will be known in the future as the Paul R. Williams Historic Center because that's something I've already publicly stated. Um but my point is let us have the granddaddy grandmommy of all summits where we take the time. It could be even on a Saturday. the historic resource commission can certainly lead it. They can provide some framework to it. Our staff gets it's hard because that is subject to the open meeting law and workshops aren't always that really the easy form. So, I'll just say I' I'd like to take the mayor's idea and just expand it a little bit, help to pay for the time and commitment that it may take in terms of, you know, providing lunch for the people who attend or whatever it needs to do. And that's what I can commit to. But again, the goal is everyone's buy in to save this treasure. Let's do the Lair Summit. I love it. But Alicia, you are going to have to help us lead the way. But it's See, she's going to regret. Oh, why did I say I was But it's the right thing. But she's going to be But great. It is the right. I mean, maybe if I may. Okay, go ahead. May maybe Miss Bar or Dr. Barbara is the facilitator and maybe those funds go towards, you know, her time. Uh she, you know, instead of just volunteering. Um, and a lot of times I find that facilitators do the best job when they know the subject actually versus sometimes people think it's just all about a neutral facilitator, but a lot of times they have to get educated about the project that itself that we end up paying them to get educated. I'd rather have a person who already understands a field. Um, so that's number one. Number two, I've had a lot of requests for tours and um I brought this up with Miss Turney a year ago and uh we really need to do the tours because it's very hard for people to talk in theory. They've never been in the building and I know that the building's stable enough to tour. I have toured it. um whatever safety things if if there's support for that. I'd love to have a series of tours that the members if they want to avail themselves prior to the workshop could at least get in the building and see what they're talking about um instead part of the summit. Correct. On the same day at Well, it could be the same day or the week before, but he doesn't like it. You know what's she's over here going? No, I'm I'm trying to problem solve, Madame Mayor, in order to help facilitate the needs of this body. Uh, I'm trying to figure out how do we get to Yes. Uh, risk management has issued an official statement that is prohibiting the public from being able to access this building. We do have a I did not know that. I mean, yes, it went out in a memo to council. Um, I can get you a copy of that. Um, it's it's been a while. So, we do have a 3D digital scan that we were able to have put in as part of our historic structures report, which is a wonderful tool for the public to be able to access. There you go. Visible. I mean, that might be the virtual tour. Uh, could be a good option. I'm just saying before I brought it up, we weren't talking virtual tour. So, um, I would like to maybe make that available on our website or a pl a special I think we set up a separate section of our website already on the Lear. it could be there to be viewed along with the structures report and other things so people can come in a little bit more knowledgeable about the past and what we've already done. Okay. All right. I'm sorry. I'm going to speed this up. Go ahead because I've got to leave. I just want to say I I really want to stress the urgency on this. I I have gone in the building and it is in very rough shape. Um I know in the like basement area there's um a lot of standing water and it's clear. So that means to me it's moving. It's not just sitting there stagnant. So I'm concerned about, you know, what's happening in proximity to the river. Um there's cracks through the roof that you can see sky through. There's vines growing in the building. Um this is something that is crumbling while we discuss it. So I just want to stress the urgency on doing something. And I know that we allocated ARPA dollars for this project and we followed the guidelines that were approved by Shipo, but we could not find anybody to submit a bid to work on it. So, this is a a real big problem. I think we all want to protect the building. Um it's it's very important to the city of Reno, but um we have to do something. So, I'm just going to say that. Thank you so much, Randy. Just really quickly, I want to make sure that we um remember how this started and where does Miss Hassler fall into this discussion and that's the agenda item. And first of all, I want to say thank you to her um for her submitting because this is she's actually made going to make the process better and the overall I think outcome much better. I also think we have to figure out a way this is going to be another discussion that I'm going to put on an agenda. We have to think about a better way to work with the community when they want to submit something. When the council has maybe a different idea or direction or the public says, I want to be engaged in that. Maybe my idea could be considered and I think that that is a good thing. But I want to see a better process so that the people that do come in um to apply for something like this or we we saw this very recently with the um shelter downtown when we had a developer come in and present a proposal and then we went back to the drawing board with an RFP. We opened it up. We heard community concerns. I think this is a broader discussion. So, not just on the Lear Theater, but on other ways like we had that developer um come in and give us a proposal. And the policy has been to when that when someone comes in, it triggers that to bring it to council because think about it. Do you know if they have the purview to say we're just going to shut it down when that comes in because that's not our policy. I like it. I know that the public doesn't like it because then the transparency looks backwards, but we would all want to hear because I've heard this. I used to hear this a lot and it kind of broke my heart. People would walk up to me and say, "Mayor Shiv, I had this great idea for the city." And I'm like, "Why didn't you bring it forward?" And they said, "Well, I did, but it never got it never got to your desk." And so that's when we kind of said hey any proposals we really want them to come to the forefront so that we can decide do we want to entertain that is this where this should be so I want a broader discussion with council to figure out what does that process look like so we don't miss out on opportunity but we also don't discourage um like the applicant that came in on this to not be part of the process not be part of the community because I think there's a lot of value on both sides So, I think that there needs to be be a better policy. I think Ashley, you can help us craft something that makes more sense or at least we all understand because I took it. You you know how this is. Mayor, why are you putting this on the agenda? Well, there's got to be a discussion point at some level in some way. Does that mean that that's the sediment of the council? No. But it is this it is the start of a point of discussion because I otherwise I don't know how to get there. I don't know how to balance that. So, I'm looking for your guys' feedback. If you have a better way, um I think that will be help help all of us moving forward. Madam Mayor, sorry, just go ahead for clarity. Our answer to the proposal in front of us is not at this time. Later. Okay. Yeah. I think they need we need a little bit more conversation around that because there's a a really um well-meaning community member that has brought a proposal that we don't want to discourage, but it feels like this proposal has been nothing but discouraged. And so I know that this this property and this project is extremely valuable to the history of Reno and everybody that's involved, all of the stakeholders from all of the cultural communities that need to be involved in this consideration. But I don't I feel like exactly how this process has gone down is exactly the way that we discourage people bringing ideas together. So I just I want to get that on record but I feel that this has been fumbled a bit. Yeah. But I will say I saw that same thing whenever we had a great project in front of us for the shelter and then people said we wanted the opportunity to come in and collaborate with the city. we opened it back up and ultimately someone else even had a proposal that the council decided to adopt. I think that's the problem is I don't want to discourage people. That's why I want a better policy. How do we do that? I didn't know how to do it other than to have this conversation today, which I did not love the process because I think to your point, it made a community member feel not heard or attacked really. Well, really, I'm sorry that you felt that way and I I will call her and apologize to her. I haven't talked to her. Um, but that's why I really wanted to have it on the agenda. I don't know her. I don't know her. I'm looking at the the body of of comments in the community. I I feel like we should be talking about this collaboratively collaboratively as a community and not excluding that voice that spurred the conversation. So that's all I'm saying. I think that we are engaging here. I think it's very valid. That's why I think collectively as a community, I want her involved in the process because I don't see why everyone can't work together. I think that's important. And but guess what? because of her um willingness and passion for the project, the building, I think this is going to put us on a much better path all because of her. She's the one that put in and it's sparked the conversation. So, I'm grateful. Um, Madame Mayor, just really quickly on this aspect, um, I was really appreciative of the enthusiasm of the proposer and I actually took the chance to call her and thank her and discuss with her how she came up with her ideas, you know, where she was going. But I really think just like when we get proposals for redevelopment and we go to the redevelopment advisory board, we when we get proposals, any kind of proposals for historic resources, we need to go to historic resources. It should have gone there naturally. should have been vetted by them, come to us as a recommendation, we'd be in a much better position and she would have gotten heard by the people that are closest to it. And so I think that is that we should integrate that into the process if we need to write it all down. I I thought it's kind of basically understood. That's why we have these various groups just like if there was a proposal for a park, wouldn't wouldn't we want them to go to the parks commission and and get a recommendation before they came here? So yeah, I I just think that you're absolutely right. we're on the same page. This we're going to get to a place, but this person followed the process that was in place that we laid out. So, I'm very I'm and our team didn't do anything wrong. I think at the end of the day, you know, this is actually in word one. I walk by this property three or four times a day and it is embarrassing and it's a disgrace and I think we can all agree that to that and we need to do something and we don't have the money to do it or the time or the resources. So, I absolutely agree with my colleague, um, Council Member Eert. We've got to move forward with something fast and I would love for Gina or Miss Hassler to be part of this process and be included in this. I don't want to say not her, but let's open it up. And it sounds like she's very willing to work with other people and get all of the input. So there was no um this wasn't a public process or you guys are doing stuff behind closed doors or somebody came in with an RFP. It was just this is the process that was laid out. She followed it. She's interested. And my I myself have talked to developers and said, "Are you interested in this property? Can you love it? Can you do something with it that we can't?" And the response I have gotten is absolutely not. So, let's have the conversation, but let's move it forward in an expedited way with the least amount of cost to the city of Reno. And I think that's that's a win. Come on up, Alicia. Gina, and is Gina Alicia Barber again, and I'm sure someone else will say this. Gina, she's right here. Gina, my goodness, I did not know you were here. I apologize. We have not met. I want to say thank you. I think you are going to change the trajectory of this. Thank you, Councilman Ree, for pointing out. I would love for you to come up. Come on up. No, Alicia, come back. You You finished your thoughts. I just wanted to acknowledge that she is here. I didn't know that. So, go ahead. I think they're meeting for the first time, too. So, go ahead, Alicia. Go ahead. I was just want to just um I just wanted to say I want to appreciate all the comments, you know, so much. And I do I do think time is of the essence. Um I love this idea of having a summit. I love the idea of it going to the HRC's October meeting to have a discussion that could maybe help generate sort of the framework for what that summit would be. I think it would be good if the direction from council today does makes it very clear since we wanted to make sure that there's clear direction that that's what would happen and then perhaps um Miss Tney can help organize what that summit would be without it coming back to the council again to organize the summit, right? Like maybe that's giving dispensation for that process to begin. Yes. um and what my involvement would be and everything. HRC meetings are open to the public. Um they, you know, are are advertised. I would do my best through the means I have to advertise that meeting in October. Great. Um with that on the agenda, but I just wanted to make sure that there was a very clear motion that allowed that planning to start beginning before without it coming back to council. Should that be the another delay in step? Yeah. Well, as the liaison, I am happy to help move this forward. I I was ready to do this last January as Miss Attorney knows and she asked me to delay so respectfully I did. Um and then it turned into multiple delays but I was ready you know eight months ago and I'm ready today. So let's do it. Gina do you want come I'd love to hear some of your comments. I I have to tell you thank you so much because we've kind of been in this place of what's next for the Lear and obviously your love and passion for the community. I mean, it's really um remarkable. So, I would love for you to kind of tell us a little bit about like how you got here and uh well, I know a lot of people think that I seemingly came out of the blue. Um I I prefer to be behind the scenes. I have a terrible fear of public speaking. Oh, I'm sorry. The only thing that might be speaking about myself publicly. You're doing great. Um a little bit about myself. I was born and raised in Reno. I have a husband who is a licensed contractor here in town. I have three children in the Wo County the Wo County School District and I'm a photographer and the owner of Studio 14 which is a local art space. Um to say that I'm a photographer I feel almost minimizes what I think qualifies me to um take on this project. I'm probably best known through the community for my annual Santa experience. Um, which sounds crazy to say that Santa portraits could uh shape and mold your career, but it's absolutely stretched my creative vision and has pushed me to reinvent my business um every year creating creating magic in the community. Um, we see roughly 500 families within about an 8 period of time. Um, and these sessions sell out with minutes within minutes. Last last year, uh, they sold it out in 15 seconds. Okay. So demand follows demand follows our our vision. Um I um the the excitement of Christmas and and the magic that comes with that has spilled out into every aspect of my business and my life. Uh it doesn't matter the project. We have the following. Um it's it's rolled into two nonprofits. one that um provides Christmas for underserved children in the community, uh hundreds of families every year, and another that provides um portraits for terminally ill children and families. Um but most importantly, it's immersed me in the community and I think that this community is the greatest chance that we have to restore the LER. I love that. Thank you. we have continually done. I mean, I think the LER has been in the same hands for a long time and I I absolutely respect and appreciate the work that has been put in by so many people before us. Um, but I do think that we need to do something different. I think that we need to reach a new audience. Um, we've enlisted the help of the Blueprint Collaborative and they are very well um known and and uh they do a great job fundraising and with grant writing. Uh, we've talked to one studio DNA who works with Mercedes Stagar for plans in in um the rehabilitation of it and we do have funding. I don't want to step stand up here and say we have $15 million to get this done, but we do have private donors that that are interested and willing and ready to make sure that we we move as quickly and and efficiently as possible. And I do believe that the way forward uh to do this most quickly, yeah, is for the city to consider giving up. Thank you so much. Really appreciate it. I really hope that you will be part of this process. I think your voice is going to be instrumental into shaping this building. Um, and then I'm going to hand it over to Devin. But Devin is um building a coalition to raise money for the sod and the fence and um for some paint. He's um he didn't want to come out publicly, but I did want to I did want to let people know um that Devon is leading the charge on um raising the money for the out to beautify the outside. So, I want to say thank you so much, Councilman Ree. um because it's at such a lift that none of us up here could get done, but Devon has already had big commitments and he's gonna preserve the LER thanks to Devin. So, um I I wasn't supposed to share that. This was a big announcement, but I already but anyway, but I wanted everyone to have hope that we're all going to do this together. Absolutely. And um make it really great. Make it what it needs to be. I think it has to be a community. Exactly. Um I do have to leave. I am already super super late uh to celebrate centurions and I think that it is important for me to um as we talk about history and the people who live here um that have lived that long. So I apologize. I need to go and do that. Um but I want to take this vote right away and we can have bigger discussion. I'm going to reach out to you. I'd love to take you to coffee. Um because I think it's fascinating and I definitely I never do Santa because honestly Christmas depresses me and I get super depressed. But maybe um I'll feel better if I have a little Christmas head shot of Santa and some of my council members, right? Um Madame Mayor, before we take that vote and run off, I'm so sorry, Devon. I outed you. Well, it's happened a few times in my life. Let let me say it this way. Um I I listened to Miss Anderson and her point is well taken and what I want to say to you Miss Haspel is um sort of an apology. Uh government and how sausage is made. You know that analogy is it can be sometimes really horrible and horrible to witness, horrible to eat. Um and and ultimately the thing I think I hope you take away from this is one uh my great sincere thanks to you for giving us the opportunity to have this conversation. Second is we've had some community members uh Mr. Coleman, um, Dr. Barber, I think there would be more if we weren't so fast moving with the sausage. And then my colleagues, I think everyone is is largely of the same mind that the goal is to save and preserve the historic integrity of the Lear. What it looks like is is something that's got to come later, but we all want for that, too. Now, what I will tell you is the city of Reno has only had it in its possession for a very short while, and we've accomplished some good things, right? The historic resources and structure report is very important. We had a failed attempt at putting some money to it. I I'm trying to work on coming up with some other ideas. Um, and it will never be about me. And certainly what I would say, it's never been about any individual council member. Miss Der has been fighting for this for 11 years, probably longer. Um, it's going to be about we, right? It's going to be about we. It's this community, what we could do together. And that's my commitment to Miss Anderson is that we um we kind of get out of our own way. We stop trying to pat ourselves on the back to any extent that we could and just focus the most important thing that we can do for cultural preservation in this community is the lear. And it's why I've said I'll commit the resources to it. I think Miss Der could lead the charge. I I can step out and do things behind the scenes like you. I am not always in the most u jolly uh effort to do it, but I do it because it's something we love. So again, m Miss Anderson, I think you have put us on the right track with your thoughts about it, and I hope that you'll be part of that. Thank you. I do have concern that you know we I do I don't know that there is enough bandwidth or time or money available within you know the local government to make sure that that is accomplished and and I I think that we're almost getting a stigma for the the continued effort I hate to say failed attempts but they are um to make sure that this comes to comes to pass and and some of our our anonymous donors you know they do have serious reservations concerning the uh the incumbent solution to to the restoration of this building. I I'm sorry. I need some clarification. Um, thank you, Miss Hustler. Am I So, am I to understand that we are we're delaying this? We're saying no, thank you. We would like to or not at this time. We But we're not weighing competing interests. You've just announced that Mr. Ree is raising money to save the lear. No, I don't. What did you just announce? No, I wasn't announcing anything. The mayor What was that? We need clarification. He h has committed. He is working on committing to raising the money to help with the sad and the fence. So, we doesn't matter who has it be, but the area is looking really sad. And for the residents that live there, that would be a huge start to start getting that the property back together that the neighbors should absolutely deserve to have something where the sod is I mean, if you look at it now, the biggest things are the sod and the and the um fence. And so it I just commend Devon because it's such a heavy lift to do that. Doesn't matter who who's doing it that any anyone that goes into that building, it's a great start. So it doesn't matter. we were just unaware and I didn't know how that affected the proposal that was on the agenda and I wanted to thank you very very much. I know that this has been a confusing process and for me this is officially my first rodeo like we discussed on to it. Um and I know that this is a really special project. So I hope with everything that I have that we have not discouraged you. I'll still be here. Thank you. Thank you so much. Okay, Councilman. Thank you. Yeah, I just wanted to um sort of wrap throw my own two cents in there as well and appreciative of everybody's obviously high emotions and love and affinity for this space. I think all of us want to make sure that we see it activated and that we see it come back to life because no one likes to walk by such a beautiful historic building uh and see it dilapidated or in the conditions that it's in. appreciative of staff and making sure that we do have even if it's a virtual tour that there is possibilities of people being able to experience the Lear Theater currently. I'd also like to thank uh Miss Hassler for submitting your letter. Um and despite maybe the vote not getting the approvals that you want, it definitely opened the door for us to have this conversation and to express our concerns. And I think one thing that I've heard over and over again from my colleagues up on the dis is definitely a need and desire for us to work towards reopening the doors of earlier theater. And whether it is working with you or working with someone else, I think there is that potential and that desire. And so I hope that we all move forward in our conversations with that in mind and also anchoring in two things. one the cost that it's going to take to actually bring this building to being come back to life and two understanding that the city does not have the funds to be able to do it at this point. And so I think those are two important facts that we need to move forward with in the conversations that we have. So again, thank you so much Miss Hassler and the rest of the council members for such an indepth dialogue on the Lear Theater. Thank you. All right, we need to move forward. That's fine. We're done. Yeah. Okay. To clarify for the record, my expectation, madame mayor, is that direction, the motion that's on the table is for staff to agendaize uh discussion at the historic resources commission at their next meeting to discuss feedback, recommendations, and subsequent to that, we will be creating a facilitator ran summit to review ideas, options, recommendations and then bring that back to this body for your direction based off that. All those in favor say I. Thank you. Well, is it is it possible we could do a 20-minut break? I mean, we have all sat here for three hour, four hours. I think that pretty quick. Who is Oh F1 and F1, I'm sorry, is F1 is item is for ADU adoption. Second reading. Madam clerk, do we have any public comment on this item? Audrey Dela Cruz via Zoom. I'm not sure if she's still there. Audrey, you're muted. Okay. Uh, we'll move on to Donna Keats about that. I lost track. Hello everyone again. Um, I don't have that much to say about ADUs because I think we've beat this drum to death, but I did skim through the revised ordinance. I've talked to some of you about it and the revised ordinance has an entire section of article 5 temporary uses that has been stricken. You didn't see this when you did the ordinance introduction. Now you're here for ordinance adoption. The stricken text. I've never seen it. I don't know where it came from, but it's in this one. It seems to me that a legal opinion would be required. whether or not this can be adopted with this stricken text that you haven't seen in your ordinance introduction will be legal if you um if you adopt it. So, I'm guess let you know because either I'm screwed up and you've seen it before or something has to happen before you approve this or you're going to approve an ordinance that would be subject to legal challenge. So, thank you for paying attention. Anyway, it's article five. It's in your draft ordinance. take a look at it and see if you've ever seen it before because it wasn't there last time. Thank you. There's no one else signed in, but we did receive four comments which were distributed as two in favor and two in opposition. Um and then to the city attorney to read the title. Okay. Um Carl, can you read the ordinance? Ordinance adoption. Uh, ordinance number 6725, case number TXT 24-0000002 accessory dwelling units. Ordinance amending Reno municipal code title 18 annexation and land development specifically in chapter 1803 use regulations section 1803206 entitled table of allowed uses. Section 1803 402 entitled accessory dwelling buildings and structures and residential zoning districts. Section 1803 405 entitled standards for specific accessory uses. Chapter 1804 development standards. Section 180475 entitled offstreet parking requirements. And chapter 1809 definitions. Section 1809302 entitled accessory uses to add use standards. 5,000 square foot lot minimums, parking standards, design criteria, and definitions as they relate to accessory dwelling units together with matters which pertain to or are necessarily connected there with wards 1 2 3 4 5 and six. Thank you, Carl. Uh, Councilman Martinez, you have a question. Thanks so much. Yeah, just wondering if uh Miss Mcadin can come up and sort of respond to that question. I did see um I believe it's page 33 of the ordinance uh article 5 where all of that language was stricken and just wanted to understand sort of decision behind all of that. Yes, I'm Grace McAdin, senior management analyst. I'm trying to pull it up now. Um I don't know if it was unintentionally stricken somehow. Um we didn't do anything in article 5 for temporary uses for accessory dwelling units. Um, so that Carl, do you have an answer or are legal? Is there anything that you guys want to respond to based on the public comment? Are we okay to adopt this is what I really want to know. We're looking I'm just looking at I'm trying to figure out if those were the recommendations that council made at the last meeting as far as changes or not. But I mean if maybe we could take a pause to find out if something was inadvertently put in there because I don't I I can share that. I didn't see it in I made the motion last time. I didn't see it in the text. I'm not saying that it's fatal, but but often you say to us that um if there's a change, we need Okay, we're going to take a quick minute. We're going to take a 20-minut break for lunch and we'll be back. Thank you. From parks and public safety to development projects, your voice matters. Joining an NAB is easy and it's a great way to connect with neighbors and city leaders while making Reno an even better place to live. Applications are open now. Visit reno.govnab to learn more and apply. Get involved and help make Reno not just livable, but lovable. Do you want to make a difference? I'm Corey. I'm a housing manager with the city of Reno and we are here at our second Love Your Block project pop-up nursery for Yori Avenue residents. We had residents of this neighborhood apply and we've got about 75 plants and trees here to give out to the neighbors to beautify the neighborhood, get a little more green here. It's one day of planting and a lifetime of shade and and beautiful greenery in the neighborhood. The Yori pop-up nursery is project that my neighbor and I kind of came up with. People get to beautify their yards. Sometimes landscaping is intimidating due to the cost. this initiative, this project helps kind of eliminate that obstacle for a lot of people. And so, it'll be nice to see more plants in more people's yards and just make more of a beautiful neighborhood. Uh, secondarily, I'm a huge fan of pollinators and native plants. And so, getting more of those in the ground is just going to help the environment overall. It's super exciting. I love this project. I started the bee friendly campaign, which was created to help people talk to their neighbors. So, a lot of times when you start a pollinator garden in your front yard, it doesn't look like a traditional yard. So, I created these signs to kind of help with communication. It's a great neighborhood gathering. And I'm super proud to be a part of it. We're just so excited to be here in partnership with Reno Food Systems, Be Friendly Nevada, and the Nevada Division of Forestry alongside all these neighbors to to get in the neighborhood and get planting. [Music] My name is Maria Hernandez Pon. I am a graduate from the community court and I'm here to share my success story. About 5 months ago, you and I sat down for the first time and had a discussion. Yes. What do you need? What do you want? And now look at you. Tell me. I I got bits of bits and pieces along the way, but share what that was like. What was what was it like right before I met you and what is it like now? Well, before you met me, I was going through a very hard time. Um, I ended up, you know, having to give guardianship of my son to my brother. Um, I was trying to recover from drugs and here you came, you know, the community court, um, and yourself. Um, and I mentioned that to you and you told me about all these nice programs and resources that are available to me. Um, and I'm thinking five months back like I would have never thought that I'd be here right now. That's for sure. Yeah. But what connection did you make in community court that helped you achieve that? Well, taking accountability for my actions, you know, realizing um that I had a a problem. Um, step one, you know, admitting that you're powerless and your life has become unmanageable. That's definitely very important. Um, and then reaching out for help would be the second most important, I would say. Nice. You know, that's so cool. Yes. You are the the image of what I want everybody that I meet at community court to to accomplish. It's you, right? Every box I intend to check and rarely do, you do. and you check all of them. I originally met Maria on our first day of work. Uh we both had the first same start date. So we got to meet each other there and we immediately bonded. I immediately saw huge potential in Maria. Um she is really great. She's a people person and she she just strives for the stars. If it wasn't for Community Corp, I wouldn't be where I am today. They pushed me to get the help that I needed with my recovery. Um, you know, they helped me get my job. They've helped me through every step of the way. Community court is an alternative to traditional court. And I in in essence, that's what is different about it is it's it's the alternative approach. Um, I think in traditional court, it's more cut and dry, black and white. You've committed this crime. This is the standard sentencing. Therefore, here you go. um in community court uh Judge Hazel Stevens who I I couldn't say enough good things about him and the way that he is driving this court. It's started with the Nevada Urban Indians. Her counselor Troy um knocked it out of the park with the substance use uh counseling. Uh Job Connect, Tim is our contact there and he did a great job of working with her. They did the uh the application process right away. They met later that week. They completed all of the online applications, uh, sent out all the information they needed to, who then linked her to the placement agency that got her in here. Um, she also worked with Downtown Reno Partnership who helped her get her IDs. She wouldn't have been able to get this job without those IDs. And so it it was several people working together as one to achieve what uh we consider the perfect success with Maria. [Music] [Music] Hi, I'm Monica Kirch. I am the director of housing and neighborhood development for the city of Reno. The rapid rehousing pilot program is a program that the city of Reno started in coordination with Volunteers of America and the Reno Housing Authority. Programs like the rapid rehousing pilot program are important to Volunteers of America because it gives us an opportunity to catch individuals who are otherwise potentially falling between the cracks as far as services go. The Reno Housing Authority assists nearly 15,000 Wo County residents through its traditional housing programs. Yet, we know there are many more who need assistance. The Reno Housing Authority supports the rapid rehousing pilot program in two ways. Uh the first way is through a financial contribution to support half the salary of the service coordinator who works directly with clients at uh Village on Sage. The second way that we support the program is by um ensuring that clients are on one of our HA's weight lists prior to being housed at Village on Sage. Program is new and we just started housing people within about the last month. We have several folks now staying at the village on stage working with a service coordinator. Partnerships like this give RHA the opportunity to assist more families outside of our traditional programs. And it's these innovative partnerships that create a stepping stone from temporary housing into long-term permanent housing. So specifically, this program works with individuals who are on a fixed or low income who can't afford conventional rents and they're eligible for a housing voucher, but they still have to take the time to wait for that voucher. So it allows us to support them in that intermediary time frame so they can stay housed and have access to services. I know um specifically with this program, a lot of our folks are coming directly from the street and haven't had a rental in a very long time. Um, specifically Mikey hadn't paid rent in over a decade and so it was really exciting for him to come to the office with his money um and just celebrate that new experience that he got to have. Hi, I'm Mike and um welcome to Village on Stage where uh Come on, let's go look around. This Yeah. Oh, Harold, welcome. And this is what we get. Um I got a brand new television. It's an element. This is one of the finer finer televisions. Um, you're welcome to bring your transportation inside with you. Uh, nobody cares as long as you keep it neat and tidy. Um, what can I tell you? The doors open, the train's right there, you know. Uh, so if you like trains, excellent, then this is where all the magic happens. This is where the happiness uh, you know, where we come to ground out. This is just where uh you know we can be ourselves. I know it's a it's cold out there. It's cold and you don't want to be homeless in high desert. Guys, if you don't have a room, you want to get a room, think about Village on Sage. I know it doesn't look like all that from the entrance way, but you never judge a book by its cover, right? The Village on Sage Street is ideal for the rapid rehousing program because we're in a transitional setting. um by means that they're month-to-month unit so they have their own space where they can find and build their comfort and also build community while having access to a multitude of supportive services. Program service coordinator ensures that clients receive the assistance they need as they transition out of homelessness and into village on Sage and then ultimately will help them through navigate through RHA's admissions process. The program also helps clients prepare for permanent housing and the adjustments that they're experiencing as they move out of homelessness and eventually into permanent housing. My hope for the future of this program is that we get folks housed and off of the street and they're into safe permanent housing that they can afford in the long run. RHA hopes that clients assisted through the program can find respbit from living on the streets and ultimately find long-term safe permanent affordable housing. On top of just having the a unit here at the village on Sage Street of their own, they also have access to community resources. Uh those resources include a community fitness room, a conference room, community lounge, a mail room, computer room, on-site laundry, and on-site vending unit here at the village. They're 555. So in this instance that somebody is a can afford $300, the program would fill in the $255 monthly and then that would keep them housed until their permanent unit came open that would be subsidized to the amount of money that they make. RHA is always looking for opportunities to fill gaps in the affordable housing landscape and it's a partnership like this where three community agencies came together to do just that. Volunteers America is grateful to have the opportunity to partner with the city of Reno and Reno Housing Authority to run this pilot program and provide additional housing for folks who are um on a fixed income and otherwise waiting for their permanent housing. Community can support this program through donating to volunteers of America or making donations to the city of Reno. We have had a donation from some of our local housing champions of $20,000 that is going to help extend it a little bit also. So that's those are the two ways that that folks can get involved and make donations to keep this program going. [Music] Hello and welcome to On the Agenda, a semionthly podcast by the city of Reno that quickly updates you on actions taken at the recent council meeting and checks in with various departments to keep you up to date with happenings within city hall. I'm AJ from the city of Reno's communications team and with me as always is Reno city manager Jackie As we move into the next budget year, we're excited to share some of the key accomplishments this past year in the biggest little city. Whether working to ensure a safe and welcoming community, planning for responsible growth, or maintaining strong fiscal accountability to our residents, our team is dedicated to building a community that people are proud to call home. Running a city is no small feat. It takes seven dedicated council members and over 1,700 committed employees to make this city thrive. While you see some of them every day, many are behind the scenes. But we all have one thing in common. We make Reno more than just livable. We make it lovable. [Music] Ensuring the infrastructure in our community stands the test of time is critical to obtaining a vibrant and resilient city. The utility services team oversees storm water, waste water, and recycled water throughout the city, including the sanitary sewer system. I know sewer is one of those things that people don't often talk about, but sewer systems play a crucial role in protecting public health and our environment. One important element in the sanitary sewer system is lift stations, which are needed in low-lying areas to pump sewage up to a gravity sewer line. All of our sewer lines convey sewage and ultimately end up at our wastewater treatment facilities. Over the last 5 years, our team evaluated 27 public lift stations in our community and determined that some needed major rehabilitation. Since the evaluation, the city has successfully rehabilitated five lift stations and completed the design improvements for those seven remaining stations in need of rehabilitation. These remaining lift stations will be constructed in the next two years to ensure the sustainability of the systems for years to come. Since 1995, City Reno Council has made street maintenance and rehabilitation a major priority. The public works team maintains a pavement management system to evaluate the condition and serviceable life of over 755 mi of streets. This system allows us to plan for preventative maintenance and major rehabilitation projects based on priority. Maintaining infrastructure such as roads is the job of the maintenance and operations team. This last year, the streets division maintained 755 miles of paved roads. That includes 37,000 mi of road being plowed, over 6,000 potholes repaired, and over 12 million square ft of cracks sealed or filled. Our teams work round the clock when needed to ensure that residents can get where they need to go safely, rain, snow, or shine. at City of Reno in our sewer and storm drain division. There's 50 of us that take care of just over 800 miles of sanitary sewer that includes 35 lift stations. Our sewer and storm drain division in the city of Reno ensures safe maintenance for over 600 miles of storm water lines. It's our aggressive preventive maintenance program that ensures that your system will respond properly to prevent overflows and flooding, keeping our residents and our environment safe and sound. The fleet management team maintains over 850 pieces of equipment, including police cars and other emergency response equipment. This year, the fleet management team was ranked in the top 100 best fleets in the Americas. And doing work in-house saves the city millions of dollars each and every year. And our final areas of responsibility is facility maintenance. We perform a wide variety of repairs and remodels and preventative maintenance on over 200 city-owned buildings. And just this last year, we completed a seismic retrofit of city hall, which ensures the safety of both staff and the public during earthquakes. Parks, recreation, and open space are vital for creating healthy, sustainable, and vibrant communities. Last November, the Reno City Council adopted the parks, recreation, and open space master plan. The plan identifies top priorities and an implementation strategy to improve existing parks, trails, and recreational facilities, identifying and acquiring land for new parks and recreational spaces, activating the Truckucky River Corridor and downtown spaces, and expanding recreational programming. But the crowning achievement this year for the parks team is the Moana Springs Community Aquatics and Fitness Center. Opening in August, this 52,000q foot facility will include a 50 meter indoor competition pool, multi-use indoor recreation pool, an outdoor soaking pool, 5,000 ft² fitness facility, and more. This project represents a vital investment in the health and well-being of our community for generations to come. As we approach the completion of two major projects in our community, the public safety center and the Moana Springs Aquatic Center, it's important to highlight the clean energy components of both projects. At Moana Springs, the city received a community project funding award to install solar and was selected by Envy Energy to be a community-based solar resource host site at the same location. The Moana Springs parking lot features solar covered parking to support this project. and the public safety center will include rooftop solar as well as battery storage to provide energy savings. By investing in clean energy, we are moving towards a cleaner, more resilient, and equitable energy future for our community. Reno is one of the best places to live, work, and play. So, we know that growth in our community is inevitable. At the city, we are focused on responsible growth to achieve balanced and long-term development that benefits all residents. Last year, the city of Reno completed the ward redistricting process that transitioned our community from five to six wards. Redistricting ensures that each elected official represents approximately the same number of residents. Final maps for the new wards were voted on by the Reno City Council following a community engagement process that spanned across four months and included 17 opportunities for residents to participate. The new ward maps will go into effect following the 2024 election cycle. We encourage you to visit our online mapping tool to learn more about the new wards. Responsible growth means long-term planning. In January of 2021, the city adopted a new zoning code. And in June of 2022, the city initiated an amendment to address outstanding cleanup items. This includes everything from grammatical errors to accounting for updates in state law. Development services has spent the past year working through these changes and seeking public input. Final adoption of an updated zoning code is anticipated early next year. The city of Reno is working with our regional partners to manage water resources sustainably for future generations through the One Water Nevada initiative. This program is working to ensure there is enough water available to meet the needs of all users while protecting and even improving the region's water quality and environmental integrity. A key element of this project is the advanced purified water facility at American Flats. With construction expected to begin in the near future, this facility will apply state-of-the-art water purification processes and provide the region with the potential for over 2 million gallons of highquality drinking water daily. At the City of Reno, we are focused on ensuring that everyone has access to safe and affordable housing. The city of Reno helps to improve housing stability by providing rental and deposit assistance for all residents, including seniors and veterans. In the past six months, the team has assisted 584 households with rent, supported 175 costbururden seniors, and dispersed $1.5 million in rental assistance. The city of Reno is a leader on the affordable housing front. Back in 2019, the state law changed and since then, the city has been allowed to enact an ordinance that has given us the right to wave or reduce fees for sewer connection fees and building permit fees as long as the project is associated with an affordable housing development. And to date, Reno has approved rejections and waiverss totaling almost 8 million. This has contributed to 1,800 new affordable housing units that are moving forward. City Council has also added conditional requirements for certain development projects and those are to help pay for affordable housing. This has been triggered on five development projects. This is estimated to generate over $4 million in funds which will support affordable housing. Last year, the city of Reno supported the development of 492 affordable units through funding programs and city incentives, including federal home funds, volume cap allocation, and sewer fee reductions. Developments that were supported include the Marble Way Apartments, Copper Mesa Apartments, Oravada Street Senior Apartments, and the Ridge at Sun Valley. And while increasing the number of affordable housing units is a priority, the team is also working to invest in low to moderate income neighborhoods. In the past year, the city funded $1 million in park and pedestrian safety renovations and supported key projects including park improvements at Robin Hood, Dick Taylor, Paradise, and Mayor's Parks. Downtown Reno is evolving as our community transition from a region focused on tourism to a more economically diverse city that supports urban living, transportation, social gathering, and small businesses. Many consider Virginia Street to be the heart of our downtown and the Virginia Street Placemaking study reinforced that. Gil design firm over three phases of community engagement developed a strategy and a long-term plan of what our Virginia street and our downtown could look like. City Council approved the placemaking study last fall and identified $2.5 million in state and local fiscal recovery funds to implement phase one of the study. This year, state and local fiscal recovery funds were also utilized to create the Restore Reno facade and tenant improvement program. The program provided matching funds to property owners and tenants for facade improvements and interior upgrades. 39 businesses were awarded matching grants with the total economic improvement value of the combined projects being $5.7 million. At the same time, the team partnered with the regional transportation commission to develop the downtown microobility plan, enhancing downtown roadway networks to improve safety for all users and create a more welcoming environment for pedestrians, bicyclists, and other micro modes of transportation. Design is currently underway for this project and construction is anticipated in 2026. And no discussion of the downtown area is complete without addressing the Truckucky River corridor. This year, city council approved the use of state and local fiscal recovery funds to make improvements along the Truckucky River path, including activation efforts, enhanced safety with better lighting, paint refresh, path improvements, and more. [Music] Reno is committed to building a community where all residents feel welcome, safe, and able to fully participate in their government. Providing access to city programs and services is critical to building a strong community. From improving ramp access to city hall to the addition of UB3 and listen everywhere devices, we are working to make government more accessible for everyone. Throughout the year, our team works with community partners to host celebrations that embrace, honor, and recognize the diverse cultures represented in the biggest little city. This includes the Black History Month celebration in City Plaza and the Asian-American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month celebration at Wingfield Park. Building a welcoming community requires intentional efforts to embrace diversity, inclusivity, and create opportunities for all residents to thrive. [Music] The safety, health, and well-being of all residents is our number one priority as we work to build a community we are proud to call home. The Reno Fire Department provides all risk service to the citizens and visitors of the biggest little city. Last year, the team ran almost 50,000 calls, a record high for the department. This includes everything from emergency medical response and water rescue missions to all types of fires, including structure, brush, and vehicle to name a few. The team continues to meet the needs of our growing community by increasing staffing and resources for the department, maintaining the strongest training program in the region, upgrading equipment through the fire apparatus replacement program, and investing in proactive fire prevention measures. We are excited to announce that plans are already underway for construction of a new central fire station that will be located in the heart of downtown. The 70,000 foot facility will house administrative and fire personnel with the ability to respond with up to five separate crews to serve the busiest part of our city. We look forward to its completion in 2027. The Reno Police Department boasts 354 sworn staff members. To meet the growing needs of our community, we added 43 new and dedicated officers to the ranks along with the hiring of seven lateral officers from other departments throughout the country. Last year, our patrol teams responded to over 72,000 calls for service. The traffic team responded to 2,971 accidents. Victim services served over 2,300 victims and the investigation section was assigned 3,762 cases. These cases covered offenses from property crimes to crimes against persons. In September, the department launched a new data-driven initiative to improve crime and blight in downtown. The directed engagement, enforcement, and deployment strategy, affectionately known as deeds, has been in operation for just over 6 months. In that time, we have seen a 12% decrease in the citizen initiated calls for service, a 55% decrease in vehicle versus pedestrian crashes, and a 29% decrease in commercial burglaries. We excited to announce in August of this year, we will celebrate the opening of our new public safety center in downtown Reno. The public safety center will serve as the headquarters for the Reno Police Department. Located in the former Reno Gazette Journal Building, this facility will be able to provide a swift emergency response to our community. This state-of-the-art facility is double the size of the existing station and provides exciting new features such as expanded public parking, private interview areas, community engagement, meeting space, and improved safety and security features to ensure the building will stand the test of time. A fast emergency response would be impossible without the crucial work of our Reno dispatchers. Last year, our dispatch team answered over 500,000 calls, serving as the vital link between individuals in need of assistance and emergency service providers. And this last year, the cities of Reno and Sparks along with Wo County and REMA came together to identify a unified computer aided dispatch program that will deploy the nearest and most appropriate resources to an emergency. The technology will be launched in 2025, improving emergency response for the entire region. Our staff is made up of talented and dedicated people who are passionate about the biggest little city. We've built a workplace filled with integrity, positivity collaboration and diversity. an organization that has been nominated as one of the best places to work in Northern Nevada for three years running and was the first organization in Northern Nevada to be recognized as one of the best places for working parents. Our employees have endless opportunities to make a positive impact in our community. The people and stories behind our programs are why we take pride in our jobs and why we love this city. When we proudly look at the community we've built, we know we are just getting started. We've had a lot of great accomplishments this last year, but the work isn't done. As we begin the next fiscal year, be on the lookout for some major projects. Soon, we'll be opening the new public safety center and the Moana Springs Community Aquatics and Fitness Center. These landmark projects will serve generations of Renoites for years to come. We hope you'll join us for both celebrations. And keep an eye on downtown as we continue to focus on revitalization using the input and feedback we receive from our community. You'll see improvements to the Riverwalk, activation of Virginia Street, and improvements for pedestrians and microobility users alike. To keep up to date on everything that's happening at the city, check out our website at reno.gov and follow us on X, Facebook, or Instagram at City of Reno. Until next year. [Music] [Music] Hi, I'm Reno Fire Chief Dave Cochran. It's an honor to connect with you as we look back on 2024. A year of innovation, strong work, and unwavering dedication to protecting our community. The Reno Fire Department reached incredible milestones, overcame challenges, and made a real impact on the biggest little city. Let's look back at 2024 and the achievements and highlights of the Reno Fire Department. 2024's wildland season tested our region with incidents like the Gold Ranch, Davis, and Callahan fires straining resources from across the West. Although these fires happened just outside Reno city limits, our firefighters stepped up to assist while ensuring our Reno community remained well protected. In 2024, RFD deployed 264 resources to more than 100 wildland fires, contributing over 65,000 hours of work. These efforts brought nearly $2 million in reimbursements back to the department. Right here at home, we responded to 51,737 calls for service, an increase of over 2,000 from the previous year. Our commitment to service continues to grow along with our community. The safety and training division saw impressive growth in 2024, paving the way for a stronger, more skilled team. We proudly promoted 11 captains and eight operators, hired 25 new firefighters, and welcomed five single roll EMS personnel. This year we ran two 3-week fire equipment operator enginemies, one twoe fire equipment operator truck academy, and a two-week acting captain's academy. These intensive programs help sharpen our skills and prepare our teams for any situation. We also expanded our monthly company level training sessions, introducing specialized active shooter training and wide area search exercises. And through partnerships with surrounding fire departments, we enhanced our response capabilities for wildland fires and hazmat operations. Additionally, we upgraded the training facilities at station 11 with new technology to improve the delivery of our programs, ensuring our team is always ready to meet the demands of our city. The Reno Fire Prevention Bureau experienced significant strides this year in 2024, starting with the appointment of a new fire marshal, three fire captains, and three new fire inspectors. Our team saw great success in our arson investigations, achieving an impressive 80% conviction rate and completed over 6,000 building inspections to help keep Reno safe. For the fourth consecutive year, we hosted our dumpster program thanks to a grant from State Farm. This program helps neighborhoods in the wildland urban interface clear dry vegetation and debris, creating defensible space. Thank you to everyone who participated and helped reduce wildfire risk in our community. In 2024, we were also thrilled to receive nearly 245,000 from FEMA's fire prevention and safety grant to develop a community wildfire protection plan. This comprehensive framework will prioritize wildfire mitigation efforts, improve emergency preparedness, and ensure long-term safety for Reno's residents and infrastructure. Keep an eye out in the coming months for ways to get involved. We're excited to collaborate with you in 2024. We work closely with our community partners to update the regional hazard mitigation plan. The plan assesses the potential impact of all prioritized hazards to the region and provides mitigation strategies and actions to reduce such risk. The update ensures the plan remains effective in addressing the evolving needs of our communities. We also prioritized firefighter health with initiatives like our fourth annual cancer screenings and the introduction of the coronary calcium scan. These proactive prevention programs are vital in detecting early markers of heart disease and cancer. Critical steps for firefighters facing heightened risks associated with their profession. Additionally, we launched a groundbreaking pilot program with the Epic Brain Center, exploring enhanced mindbody performance treatments. This innovative approach supports firefighters dealing with PTSD and other mental health challenges while empowering them with improved executive function to perform at their best. 2024 was a landmark year for the Reno Fire Department Emergency Medical Services Division with 30,649 calls for service. Collaboration played a key role in 2024 as we joined forces with regional partners to strengthen our unified response to medical emergencies. We were excited to welcome our new EMS management assistant and expand our specialized training for our single role program. Ensuring our EMS team is always prepared to meet our community's high demand for advanced emergency medical services. We conducted are you ready? Are we ready to go? Let's go edge video lindoscope blades vital and lifeaving four. Oh, one, two. No one. Okay, I'm gonna go get somebody. Will you go get a fourth, please? Okay, we have four members. Are we ready, Madam Clerk? lot to go. Yes please. All right. Uh, thank you very much. I guess we're back on the record. And I want to report uh thank you very much for pointing out to us that there was an error which inadvertently struck through entire section five of the proposed ADU. So we will uh the ADU ordinance we will um move this forward two weeks and we will repost without those strikethroughs. That was inadvertent and it was it was inconsistent with the first version. The first version did not contain the strikethroughs. So we don't need to do this twice. We just need to bring it back once more for the second reading. For the second reading. Correct. We don't have to start with the first. Okay. Okay. So I think we are going to move on to item C2 which is the general fund update. Is that right madam clerk? Okay. Welcome Vicki. Hi. Good afternoon. Vicky Van Beern, director of finance for the record. Today I have a brief update. It's nine slides on the status of the FY25 general fund closeout. We've passed the 60-day period following the June 30 close. So, this report is the first rollup of the general fund to analyze the results of the year. This update is intended to give you a preview of the upcoming financials and what, if any, impact the close out of the last year will have on the current year budget. This item aligns with the strategic plan through fiscal sustainability. These preliminary figures serve as an important internal tool for assessing financial trends and informing policy decisions. So today I'm going to focus on two topics. Consolidated taxes CAX and the status of the fiscal year 25 closeout. First, CEX, the largest revenue source in the general fund, has been challenging to for forecast this year. I'll be discussing several factors, including the uncertainty of the economy, state technology issues, and the recent state cyber security incident. I'll follow that discussion with an overall summary of the fisc year 25 preliminary unodudited results for the general fund. That audit will come back to you in December. But while the data is largely complete, it may not yet reflect all year-end adjustments. There may be some corrections as we proceed in closing out the books. However, there not any known changes of a material nature at this point. So, I'm going to start out here with consolidated taxes. As you know, CAX is the largest revenue source in the general fund. Several factors including the uncertainty of the economy and the state technology issues have made projecting seax very difficult. For the year cax came in 3.3% below budget. The uncertainty with the economy was recognized early last year. On the chart you can see from July to October. This is what I'm meaning by early last year. The first few months we were coming in under budget. I came before you last October to October to discuss this and that adjustments to spending needed to occur because the revenues were coming in below budget as we were trending them. That work was well underway when in November the Department of Taxation changed their financial system. So they changed their ERP system that altered the cycle and timing of allocations which has made the monthly budget and year-over-year comparisons ineffective. And you can see this on the chart in the highlighted gray area. So following from November on through June, those monthly payments have really fluctuated kind of all over the place since November. And if that wasn't enough, technology issues with the state caused by the recent cyber security incident shifted the timing and payment of the final June allocation. This resulted in the June allocation being higher than anticipated due to the cutoff period for collections shifting out one week. Subsequently, the July allocation cutoff period for collections was one week less and came in lower than anticipated at 15% below budget or 1.3 million below budget. Unfortunately, this timing shift overlaps fiscal year 25 and 26, impacting both years. Understanding this is critical as we close out the books because it's impacting last year that we're closing out and the current year. The data in the future months will be critical in determining the outlook for the current year and the next budget cycle. The next allocation of CAX is scheduled for the first week of October. The Department of Taxation has announced that the open meetings will they will host open meetings with local governments with the first meeting tenatively set for mid-occtober. These meetings are intended to provide full transparency, address any questions or concerns and keep stakeholders informed of changes. Now I'm going to shift to discuss the second topic which is closing out of the books for last year. So looking at all the general fund revenues and expenditures, two major revenue sources, consolidated taxes and franchise fees caused most of the revenue concerns last year. Both seax and franchise fees are hard to predict. Early on, economic uncertainty and consumer confidence were the biggest issues for seax because it's mostly sales tax. Seax came in 3.3% below budget. And for franchise fees, the largest sources are from electric and natural gas, and those fluctuate based on consumer usage, which is based on the weather. So franchise fees came in almost 17% below budget. It's hard enough to predict the economy and then add predicting the weather patterns, too. That's why we monitor the revenue and expenditures continuously and make adjustments during the year. These revenue challenges were identified early and the adjustments made throughout the year to reduce expenditures and cover the anticipated revenue shortfall were successful. So what were the strategic steps that were taken? Slowing down the hiring process and holding vacant positions open to create budget savings. This was done through very strategic management of staffing levels and it resulted in salary and benefits coming in 2 and a.5% below budget. city manager required all departments to have a minimum of 2% savings in their service and supply budgets and many departments achieved even more than 2% as services and supplies came in 8.4% below budget. When you look at the overall summary here of the 20 fiscal year 25 preliminary results for the general fund, the general fund sources amount to $366.6 6 million while the total general fund uses stand at 365.3 million. This results in an unassigned ending fund balance of 38.5 million which is 12.3% of expenditures. There's also a reserve fund balance of 9.5 million that was approved with the current year budget as part of the solution for the fiscical year 26 budget deficit. Those one-time funds came from property sales, um, special assessment district excess funds, canceled projects, and fund balance. While we have an estimated excess of 1.3 million, it's important to note the timely issue, the timing issue of the consolidated tax distri distributions that overlap both fiscal year 25 and fiscal year 26 that I previously discussed. Currently, there's a shortage of consolidated taxes in fiscal year 26, the current year of 1.3 million. The real takeaway today is that the strategic cha changes implemented to reduce spending in fiscal year 25 were successful and closes the year out balanced. This does not mean we are out of the woods. Expenditure growth continues to outpace revenue growth. There's still much e economic uncertainty and a lot of work to do. It does not mean that we can now shift the focus this year. It does mean that we can now shift the focus this year and start looking ahead to building the fiscal year 27 budget as we project out how we're going this year. So the data in the future months will be critical in determining the outlook for the current year and for the next budget cycle. So, the next financial update will be on October 22nd. Um, again, we're still working in three years. Last year, fiscal year 25, closing it out, projections for this year, fiscal year 26, and building the budget for the following year, fiscal year 27. So, the plan for next month is I'll highlight any changes, if there are any, from the information that I presented today relating to the close out of last year. We'll be looking at the first quarter results for this year. So I'll have July, August, and September at least to bring forward to talk about what we're seeing in that space and then discussing the outlook for fiscal year 27 as we begin to build the budget. This concludes my presentation. This item is for discussion only, so a motion is not needed, but I do welcome your questions. Thank you, Vicki. Uh, Council Member Anderson question. Thank you, Vicki. I'm just very impressed with how quickly I mean I was elected in November last year. Your budget was live you know in July and you were already making these adjustments forecasting the the you know tricky nature of the economy that we were we were looking at and I don't see how the economy has changed at all. So, I'm happy to hear that you're encouraging us to stay the course on being conservative about what we spend, conservative about how we hire, really being thoughtful about, you know, how many people we need doing what jobs, um, and how much, you know, how many supplies and things that we need moving forward. So, thank you for your, um, keeping us. I know that being the messenger that the economy is tight isn't hard or it's really hard sometimes, but I want you to know in me at least you have somebody that really appreciates the the the honest feedback and um warnings that you've given us. Thank you, Council Member Door. Um thank you. Thank you so much again. This is so helpful. This update monthly kind of keeping us on track. Could you we go back to slide four or five? I I didn't get a number on that one. This one? Um, no. I think it's the one after maybe five. Um, is this five? Okay. So, what I wanted to understand, are we I think you just showed it again. Are we ending the year 1.2 million below this one? Yeah, we have an estimated difference. We're ending the year of 1.3 million ahead. But we have a shortfall in July Cax, which is this slide here. Yeah, that first payment. And that has to do with that shortfall, that week difference between when that cyber attack occurred and they extended the collection period. So we had a week more in June and a week less in July. So the caution here is although that it looks like yes we're ahead 1.3 we are already short 1.3 in July because of that right but I I just wondered would they square that up like that is uh so it's for July not June so it's it is in this fiscal year we've already been paid it though because they they included collections for an extra week in that June payment okay it's been very hard to follow the state's new protocol Uh because before it was relatively simple. I mean you'd always explain we're two months behind the how the collections work. You've educated us very well. But this is pretty hard to understand. I mean and let me just confirm this is what you would call a cash basis uh accounting system. Is that correct? The state did switch to cash basis. Yes. From acrruel. From acrruel. And that's the difference is acrruel. We'd count stuff that happened in the year in which it happened. This this is where whatever we got, we got. Whatever we paid, we paid. And it doesn't matter that those two things don't balance. It just is what it is. This particular thing was the extra added bonus that we had of the cyber attack because they were supposed to issue the payments during that time frame. That's when they would have come due. So what happened is the payments got delayed. So they actually collected money longer for that payment that we got for June. So what that meant was June got an extra week and then July occurred on time that payment. So it was a week short. Yes. But but I thought this should not occur again. Should not because I mean wasn't the cyber attack like in August? It was but we receive payments after the fact. We don't receive them on the right. Right when they're done. But I was a little confused about your discussion of June and July when the cyber attack you you said it affected these payments, but it didn't happen till two months later. So I'm a still a little confused. We didn't get the final payout for June until August. Okay. Right. When those cyber attacks were happening. Yes. All right. Okay. Thank you, Council Member Eert. So Vicki, I'm just going to follow up on that a little bit and I'll I'll uh make it as clear as I I think I can. We do not have $1.3 million extra in this year closing out because we are short $1.3 million going into 26 from the July payment already. Correct. Okay. So, I can't go. We have an extra $1.3 million. We are barely even, but because of the measures that we were we took and thank you, manager Bryant, we are going to close the books balanced and move into the next the next Yes. here. Okay. But we're already short. Yes. Um the other thing I wanted and sorry, we we had really thought that's what was going to happen because June looked a little too high when we got it and then I started looking at their dates and I was like, wait a minute. And so when we got July, it really confirmed. And so I don't really know what the economy is doing right now. Sure. Hopefully the August I just don't want it to I want to be clear that we don't have an extra $1.3 million someplace. And then on the the ending fund balance, um I see that it's 12.3%. Don't we usually keep it around 15% for reserves of the bills that we have coming in? It's I've heard maybe it's a savings account. Um and it doesn't really seem that way to me because it's supposed to cover the bills that we have coming in until we get those payments again. Is that accurate? Yes. Um, we do typically I like to keep it at 15%, that equates to about two months worth of our operating expenses. It pays the bills in between the time when we have um our revenue receipts because our revenues don't necessarily come in at the same time our payments are due. So, some of our large sources like property tax and franchise fees only come in quarterly. Okay? So, you have to be able to pay your bills in between that time. And that's what 15% really gives us is the ability to pay in between those. revenue sources. In this case, we're down to 12.3. This is where we anticipated ending because if you remember, included in that 9.5 million that you see on here reserved is 2.8 million of fund balance. So, we had to use a portion of fund balance to balance the current budget. Well, thank you. Thank you everybody um all of our teams for for working towards this. Do we have any other questions or comments? Okay. Thanks, Vicki. See you next month. Thank you. Okay. And we are going to move into item uh C3. We have a presentation. Lance. Good afternoon, Madame Mayer, Vice Mayor, and Council members. Uh Lance Bra for the record, director of business licensing. So today I'm here to present and discuss uh on a topic of regulating residential rentals. Back in June during a presentation on short-term rentals, council expressed interest in discussing rental market as a whole. So first off, alignment with strategic plan uh economic and community development here, as well as economic opportunity homelessness and affordable housing. So, really quick, what I'm going to go over today is the city's current requirements for rentals, a review of the short-term rental information we discussed last June, and I'll discuss residential rentals and how they're regulated in other jurisdictions, um the impacts to the city of creating such an ordinance here, and some considerations to weigh. And ultimately, I'll be asking for direction on how to move forward. So, a little background. Uh RMC business definition goes through quite a few different uh quite quite a different provisions, but one of them in particular, the renting or leasing of three or more residential dwelling units on one parcel of land in the city. So, this does not apply to duplexes, single family homes, short-term rentals. It applies to three or more on one parcel. That's how that's how it works in Reno right now. Okay. So, obviously, that's why we're here. We're talking about other types of rentals that would be affected. So, just to refresh you on some of the short-term rental stats that I shared with you last time and and a couple new ones here that have been provided by um by Airbnb. There are currently about 1100 STRs in Reno, which equates to less than 1% of the occupied units in the city. About 76 of those 76% of those hosts have one entire home as a listing. And on average, the typical host brings home just under $16,000 a year. An interesting fact as well is around 22% of the stays are over 30 days, which would classify them as long-term, but nevertheless, they aren't a short-term platform. Uh again, other jurisdictions and how they regulate short-term rentals. Uh most of these are in place uh have been put in place to protect the renter as well as the neighborhoods. things like fire safety, parking requirements, trash requirements, uh responsible contacts, and of course fees are all in place to uh to make sure that the neighborhood stays uh stays in order as well as that visitors have a have a safe stay. Now, residential rentals, as I mentioned, do not require a license or registration at this time, but there are other jurisdictions that do require them. Um after reviewing other jurisdictions, it was seen that it's generally intended for renter protection. Many jurisdictions use these regulations to implement rent control or eviction laws. The information that they that they gather can help uh provide housing data for the city and contribute to future planning. But all in all, the programs tend to be costneutral at best because the fees aren't enough to cover staff time it takes to administer. It can also be very difficult to regulate because they are hard to identify and owners of these homes often resist. So, of the jurisdictions that do this sort of regulation, obviously health and safety inspections are are are key. Um, there are fee structures implemented, enforcement and penalties. Most of the enforcement in these jurisdictions is reactive. There are just too many homes. They can't be out there looking and knocking on doors and um they can only they can only find so much information on the internet. So, it's it is it is reported and and reactively enforced. generally uh as I said before they use a lot of this for data collection for for city planning and to know what the housing market's doing. Um and then a lot of melement exemptions like uh family members living in homes that that are being rented out. Uh if you have a second home, maybe your parents or your or your kids are living there, something like that, those would be exempt from some sort of licensing. So, uh what does a rental market look like in Reno? Well, there's, as you can see, there's about 112,000 occupied housing units. that first column down at the bottom um where rental properties represent just over half. I've highlighted that in the middle there, 50.6%. And then if you see on the lefth hand side, 12,000 and 20,000, there's about 15,000 single family homes that are rentals currently. Now, obviously, this is 2023 census data. This is the most current information we have, but that's about 27% of the rentals are single family homes. Then you can obviously see a little bit of a breakdown of what what it looks like for uh other other rental departments as I mean as far as apartments and and other situations where people are living. Can you just slow down in this chart? You're going very fast but I just want to make sure I do understand. You got it. So just could you just say that again like you were jumping around a little? So there's 112 housing occupied housing units in Reno. 112,000. 112,000. Yep. 50% or 56,000 of those are rental units at this time. Okay. Or at this at this census taking 15,000 of those homes of the 56,000 are rental single family homes. Single family. So most of them are apartments. Yes. Exactly. Okay. About 27% are single family homes of those. Um the apartments basically from five and up. That's that represents about 55% of rentals are are the the apartments from 5 to 9 units, 10 to 19. You see all those that breakdown right there. um that that whole side over there would equate to about 55% of the rental market would be apartments. Okay. So now I'm going to talk about a little bit of the potential cost of regulation with with over 15,000 single family homes and 1100 STRs. We'd be adding over 16,000 new licenses or registrations to the to the city. Um staff estimates anywhere from 6 to 11 employees would be needed to successfully regulate this industry. technology improvements would be needed for the database as well as vehicle supplies etc. You can see a breakdown here of what we've estimated. Business licensing employees, probably three technicians, uh obviously the technology improvements to the database. Under code enforcement, we'd have to have inspectors to do initial inspections, reinspections, um answer code uh complaints, anything like that. Administrative assistant to uh basically, you know, handle all the administrative side, the citations, the noticing, the things like that, and a supervisor over that. Unfortunately, we don't know the effects that it would have on development services or fire because you could have code enforcement cases in these homes that maybe would would we would need to call in fire or building to to do inspections or evaluations, things like that. So, it's a little bit unknown at that. Um, so as you can see on the lefth hand side there, estimated between 1.3 to 2.3 million to get this off the ground. Um, that that's again a basic estimate of of the the staffing and the tools that would be needed to implement something like this. So, some considerations here. Obviously, uh there's going to be improved housing quality if you go through with something like this. Accurate more accurate data for the city and the housing market um and city planning, accountability for landlords. However, the the main drive drawbacks are uh focused around finances. Uh that goes for the city and for the tenants and for the business owners. Um, there'll be staffing and resource requirements, potential fee impacts on the tenants, and possible displacement depending on what sort of inspections you receive from these. So, with that, I'll leave you with a couple options here. Um, option number one would be to conduct community outreach and draft an ordinance and return at a later date or to accept this report and continue monitoring the situation. So, with that, I will uh I'm available for any questions. Thanks, Lance. Uh, Madam Cler, do we have any public comment? There is none. Okay. I will bring it back to the body for questions or comments. Council member Eert. Yeah. Um I just want to mention that one part in this um presentation again where this would cost more than the revenue we we would bring in by implementing this. Correct. Well, Lance, for the record, uh at this time it's hard to say it. We don't have a fee that you would necessarily charge these yet. So, you could back into a number and then hope it's right. Obviously, that's there there's some guesswork and some estimation that goes in there. Um, I will say that a lot of this would have to be front-loaded because you'd have to come in with that money to hire the people before you start collecting it, right? You'd also have to train employees. You'd have to get code enforcement officers up to speed. Um, so it's unknown at this time if it would pay for itself. Um, like I said, in other jurisdictions, they generally call it costneutral. Um, it does seem though that there is some subsidies. Um, you know, that that the the cities end up paying more for it than they're earning in some of these cases. Yeah. I'm also concerned about how you would actually enforce it. You know, I unless you're constantly looking at rental websites and, you know, knocking on doors and waiting for people to report, it sounds like it would be a very difficult um thing to enforce at all. You're correct. it it does seem very difficult. Um, obviously there are, you know, the rental ads or the online uh ads of of of who's renting what and there are signs on the street and things like that, but there are a lot of places that these these transactions happen what we would never know about. Yeah. Um, and we would rely on people reporting it. Um, and that that's how a lot of the other jurisdictions have been doing it. Like I said, mostly I believe it was in Denver or Boulder City, uh, they react basically 90% of their of their activity is on reactive enforcement. Yeah. Um so it it is difficult to pin down and then once if you get to if you can get to them there's not always the best um we may necess may not necessarily have all the remedies to get them licensed. They may refuse. Yeah. And what is the problem we're trying to fix with this? Um I I brought short-term rentals to to council to discuss and then this came up. So that's why I'm just bringing it back to to the body to discuss. Okay. So we don't necessarily have an issue that we're looking for a solution to. This is just something that came up. Correct. Okay. Thank you, Council Member Dur. Yeah. Thanks. I have a couple questions. Uh, one of them was um, Council Member Eerts, which I didn't see. All I heard was it's going to cost us. I didn't hear any income coming in. You're correct. Uh, Lance Fraud for the record. Again, I this was just for general discussion purposes on what it might cost. We could throw in numbers, plug and play, and see how it worked out, see what we could charge. But I personally would like more information, and I'll tell you why. um your theory of like, well, we're waiting into an area we don't know a lot about. Well, yeah, but you charge homebased businesses such as mine, such as Brandy, such as I think um Council Member Taylor, we we all pay a business fee. You don't know we exist until we self-report. You're not out enforcing against us. We have to come forward once we know there's a regulation. We have to come forward and get a license. It's the same here. If if we enact a new license, it seems that the people would have to self-report. You're not out running around trying to figure out who's doing business at home in the city of Reno. I would I would I would contest that we do um we're not out looking for for people that are operating at home, but we find them. We find you do we find people doing business and then we report back and find out that they are doing a homebased business. Well, the same way you would do this, but I'm just saying the difficulty of enforcing, but we still have a homebased business license. It's still hard to enforce. Lots of people don't get one. I happen to know a lot of them, you know, and they're like, "No, it doesn't apply to me." And I'm like, "Yeah, well, I don't know about that, but I'm not the enforcer person." Right? So, what I'm trying to understand is um if we were to do this, I think that we should go into it stepwise. for example, someone that has, let's say, 10 or 20 or 30 rentals, not every single rental. Like your assumption is that we would have 16,000 new licenses or I think you said um why wouldn't we only have like 2,000 new licenses that we would start with the biggest amount of owners? It's a business. And if if you're charging us a business license to quietly work at home, why why would you not charge a business license for this fairly productive activity? And I'm not saying one because I I believe it could be a family rental. There's lots of reasons a person might have one, two, or three rentals. Um but but if you have 5, 10, 20, or 30 or 50 rentals, why wouldn't we attack in the beginning like the largest numbers with the fewest number of people? So if you get 25 rentals for one person that's you know you're only dealing with one person instead of 25. Sure. Okay. So if we do proceed that's something I would like to think about is uh below which we don't you know we don't charge we don't put a license in may you had uh three properties on three houses on one property. Maybe we charge at four properties. Just four properties anywhere. If you're in that business, I just don't understand why that business is any different than any other business. Okay. So, struggling. Okay. I know you have something. Council member Reese, I'm going to jump in really quick and I'm just going to say I think that at this point we don't have a problem. We can continue to monitor it. I'm going to be supporting the other option that to accept the report, move forward. And the reason why is I am against anything that raises the cost of housing right now. And one way or another, the landlord will be passing this on, I would imagine, to the tenants and the rents. And the difference with my business is I'm not in charge of somebody's rent. Um, and I just don't think that we have the staff resources and I don't I don't see the bang for the buck right now. I know there's an opportunity to possibly make money, but I certainly don't want to do it on the people that are renting in this community right now. So, um, just want to say that. And Council Member Ree, go ahead. Thank you, Madam Vice Mayor. I I don't have more to say than what you've already said. I I think the second recommendation is the right one. Okay. Council member Reese, I'm sorry, Council Member Anderson. I support I support your sentiment. Okay. You want to go for a motion or Go ahead. Thank you. Yeah. I just wanted to see if I didn't really understand your slide on the Reno Municipal Code 4.04. I think it was slide number four. If you can just go back to that business definition. I So if someone owns multiple renting units but they're not on the same parcel, is that different than what you're talking about? I'm just wondering if you can provide me more context. I don't really understand that. Lado, for the record, you're correct. It is three or more on one parcel. So if I own three homes scattered across Reno, I do not have a license. If they're on one parcel, it is it is deemed to be doing business. And um and you would need a business license for that. You would need a business license for that. And and looking back and trying to find out historically how this came to be. Um speaking with building and planning, uh it it does seem that there is some sort of a switch from when it's three or more, it becomes multif family use. Maybe it triggers more building inspections and more building type uh type of uh um safety safety requirements and things like that. So that could possibly be where it came from. Like I said, I've been researching it. this this law has been in effect well over 30 years. Um so yeah, that's that's why it's three it's on one parcel. It's considered like a multif family could be like a triplex or maybe it's three little houses right next to each other on one parcel, something like that. So going now to your slide number nine where you're specifying that those renter occupied units that are 5 to 50 or more, those apartment complexes already have a business license and pay a fee to operate that. And I'm assuming those fees are already passed on to the tenants that are or the renters that are in those units. Those those do already have licenses. I can't speak to how they're passed on, but likely um that the business owner is paying those fees and and you know and passing it on to the renter in order to cover their cost. Um yeah, so basically anyone even that went above that 5 to9 the three to four, those should all be as well. Okay. Okay. And then my last question is just about I guess uh calls for service or anything like that that are coming. If you had to give a guesstimate or your best uh understanding of how many calls for service are tied in to rentals, do you have an idea of what that is and what type of calls are we usually getting on rentals? I do. So there are two types of calls that can register in in uh Reno Direct. There's the my utilities aren't working and then there's uh just a complaint about a rental property. Um I ran the data actually for the last 12 months for the last two years 20 you know August through or September through August of 24 or 25 and of 24 and there were less than 300 complaints for the entire city and in comparison to Reno Direct's total call volume was about 33,000. So it's less than a percent of the total calls but about two to 300 depending on the year. two to 300 depending on the and there if there are um safety concerns or that's that there is already a mechanism in place for renters to seek remediation for a leak or a gas leak or anything like that within their units. Sorry for going over time, Madam Vice Mayor. So far as the city is concerned, yes, code enforcement gets involved and and and looks into the issue at that point. There are also uh laws at the NRS level that dictate what a landlord can do and what a tenant can do and there are protections involved in that as well. But uh yes, the city's involved in those complaints. Awesome. Thank you for that. And just based on those uh responses, I'm also supportive of what you and Council Member Reese and Council Member Anderson are thinking about in terms of going with direction number two. Awesome. What do we want a motion? I want to ask Lance. Madam Mayor, no problem. Um Lance curious because um I have seen what other some other cities are doing and what they're actually implementing um is a registry so that they actually know that they're in operation um they just you know don't fall under the same thing as like a business license and that but that way they know under this registry whether it's Airbnb or serial renters um that they are identified for public safety reasons but also for zoning reasons and So, it is a level of that there is awareness on the city side. Um, which I didn't think was also I didn't think it was a bad idea. It was interesting, but that I've seen. Have you seen how they're doing that? Yeah, definitely. Okay. Okay. Um and and I alluded to it in a couple of the slides that uh that the cities do do this do use that information for you know umformational purposes for city planning and for you know we we have put uh dispensaries marijuana dispensaries right next to places that they were not zoned for because guess what? They were a nonprofit and guess what happens? Nonprofits don't have to register with the city either. So, we don't know where those nonprofits are located. And that is not a good idea out of the safety for when we come and we do zoning and projects come together um and we have no idea where those nonprofits are living. And so doesn't that seem pretty problematic whenever we do something that is um I guess a ad averse adverse to uh what we have sort of already have in that in the zoning requirements and then you go do something you're like wait a minute you can't do that. Well we didn't know that so we did it. And the reason we didn't know that is we don't require um the nonprofits to have business licenses. And I know they say, "Oh my gosh, we can't afford that." Some can, some can't. But this is about public safety, knowing where they're at, and also protecting us so that we don't put a We literally put a rehab center next door to a marijuana dispensary. You know this Lance it was outrageous. Who does that? But we did. And the reason we did that is because we did not know where this nonprofit was located when we did it. So that that's bad. And so I I would just say I think a registry is something that we could look at um that you know you kind of know what that looks like. But I just think that that might be the way to get there. So Madame Mayor um one of the issues I brought up is a number of us have homebased businesses and we all get licenses and we're not That's true. I didn't think of that. We're hardly affecting anyone. We're just working quietly at our desks and yet we are paying and we're making sure that on our income we we have to pay a portion of our income to the city like the license price is based on how much we make and you know net profits or whatever. I mean you could explain it better but I I don't understand. Let's say you have someone with 10 20 30 40 50 rentals. They're not apartments. They're houses. I don't understand. That's a business. Yeah. Like we pay It's not that it has to be a lot and and I'm not really sure. I mean, I'm just explaining that Lance has laid out some dire consequences and costs, but no revenue to offset it. And I'm I'm concerned about that type of analysis that you could speculate and you could say, "Well, what do they charge at another city for this kind of license? And what are you regulating to my colleagues points? What problem are we trying to solve? What issue are we trying to address?" I'm not saying we actually have to do it, but I also suggested that we could set a threshold below which you don't need to get one of these. Could be at one home, 10 homes. I don't really care. I I just think it's a it's probably a good practice. Like I guess you're right. How is that different than a business? It feels very unfair to charge some businesses. And let me just go back. We had the presentation by um Aguero and he went over and over and over all of these exemptions 27 I think he said that don't have to pay sales tax for one reason or another or property or not property tax um some type of C tax and um he said if we could get rid of some of these exemptions. So what I'm viewing this as is an exemption. we are exempting a kind of business and saying that's okay. And I I don't want to hurt anybody. I just I'm seeking some fairness and equity and and I you know and I'm not saying it has to be a lot of money. Maybe it's a $200 flat fee if you have 10 rentals. I don't know. But I'm just I don't know why we regulate some and not others. And we regulate some like the in people that keep inventory, they have to pay some very big um license fees, right? Yes. I mean, very big. Like, like how big? Like, what's some of our biggest ones? Oh, I mean, they're they're in the tens of thousands. Tens of thousands of dollars for a business license because of the type of business you're in, right? So, I'm I don't know. I'm just I'm looking for equity and I'm not I don't want to hurt anybody and I don't to Miss Taylor you're will hurt people that rent. Yeah. And I don't want to do that. Well, let's not do it. Yeah. Make a motion. I'm ready to make a motion. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. What about this registry idea though? Was that incorporated? This is Can I if I can if I may. Yeah, go ahead. On the registry, the registry does it triggers staff time and costs with no benefit to the city or the community when we're not solving a problem with the registry. So, what we're doing with just a registry, which I understand I the spirit of the registry, get it right now. Do we need to spend the time and the staff focus on developing and implementing a registry when there's not really a benefit to doing that work? That's what I'm very I would just like your feedback on that. Well um the benefit to the registry is so it's identified of what use it is. They now so going back to what I said earlier, a nonprofit does not have to come into the city and register. We went out there and we put a marijuana dispensary right next to a nonprofit. It was a nonprofit that was actually a drug rehab center. Had we have had a registry, we would have said that would have triggered for them to look up in our system. Oh, that makes sense. We can't have we can't approve the dispensary right there because we now know we have a nonprofit there. And I I Madame Mayor, I understand that and I support I support that. I just don't know how that example has to do with rentals, residential rentals. I guess how are you going to identify what's a business and what's not? Yeah, that's that's the big question. I don't understand why we're why would be we would be undertaking this without a real tangible result that we're trying to drive to when we don't have staff time or budget to develop this without a real end goal. I understand your your dispensary um example and your um nonprofit that that is not this that's why I'm just asking for additional consideration just to be clear. So we're talking about rental homes but we're not under consideration of nonprofit businesses right and and were we going to take that up separately Lance? We thought so. Yes. For the same reason. Okay. So the mayor is applying uh similar reasoning but it is going to come to us separately. Yes. Or well you started I think you already brought it to us. We did bring it. Yeah. And so where does that stand? It's in pro in process. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Good. And I appreciate because I'm hearing great feedback from people working with you, Lance. They're really singing your praises. Lots of people like you. He's getting all red now. But it's great. I I love to hear that that they're like we love working with the business department. Lance has been amazing. So, I just you need to know that, right? Um, anyway, I'm gonna It's back to you. I I think Council Member Anderson wanted to make a motion. Did you have something to say? No, I didn't. I did. I just wanted to kind of um support Council Member Anderson on that. You know, we're we keep talking about doing more with less. And I don't think it's really prudent for us to add more to that list of more. We have to do with less. And you know, we just got to kind of pick our battles here since we're not trying to solve for a problem. And I think there is um something valid about abatements that we give to businesses and things like that. But I think that's the bigger problem. That's that's what we need to to tackle. Um I think that those kind of abatements at a larger scale are what's really affecting our our um um revenue streams. And it's not necessarily the few rental houses. Somebody has one rental home. Um, I don't think that What about 20? Huh? What about 20 rental homes? What about 20 rental homes? What is it going to cost to enforce that though? They have to enforce a registry. We have to create a registry. Somebody has to maintain the city of Reno. Who's going to do that? That's a list. That's what they have to do. Okay. Again, we're always having to do more with less. So, why are we going to have more to do with less staff, less less revenue? It just doesn't make sense to me. I'm sorry. Do you want to give us a motion, Council Member Anderson? Yes. Um, I'd like to make a motion to direct staff to conduct community out Oh, whoops. I'd like to make a motion to direct staff to accept the report and continue monitoring rental activity and return with updates as needed. Okay, I will second. And do we have any discussion? All those in favor? I. All those opposed? Motion carries unanimously. Thank you, Lance. And I think Madame Mayor, we are on item. D1. We will now open the public hearing. Hi. Hi. How are you? Good. How are you? It's been forever. It has. This is so nice to see you. You, too. Thank you. You look fantastic. Thank you. Look very bogue. I love it. Okay. Um I will now open the public hearing. Has proper notice been given? Any correspondence received? This item was properly noticed and no correspondence was received. All right. Uh any public comment? There's no one registered to speak. Okay, Elaine, the floor is all yours. Take it away. Um does council desire the presentation today? Just wanted to check in. Yes. Story play right now. Yes please. All right. Here we go. Um, good afternoon, mayor, council members. Elaine Wisman for the record, housing and neighborhood development. Um, today we are presenting the caper, which stands for the consolidated annual performance and evaluation report. This is in alignment um with two of our strategic plan initiatives, economic and community development as well as economic opportunity, homelessness, and affordable housing. Um I like to think of this report as our community's report card for federal housing and community development funds. Each year, HUD requires us to show how we've invested our funds um and what projects and programs we've completed. So, what is the caper? The caper is directly con tied to our consolidated plan and our action plans. So, if you remember a couple of months ago, we brought forward our five-year consolidated plan, which is like our long range plan planning um on how we're going to use our federal funds for the next five years. Within each comm plan is an annual plan. So, we have five annual plans and each year we report on how we did on the first year getting toward the five-year goals that we've set forward. Well, the caper is the end of the year report card that tells us how we did with that previous year's action plan. So again, the comm plans looking forward. The caper is looking backward to see how we did. So what we're reporting on today is actually our last program year, which aligns with last fiscal year. So July 1st, 24 through June 30th of 25. Um we reported on five different grants, two CDBG, two home grants, and one ESG grant. Um this is the total grant funds that we expended during our program year. And as you can see, we spent quite a bit of money. I'm going to highlight some projects um that we spent some of this money on. The first I'm going to go into is our CDBG grant, community development block grant. This first project that we're highlighting is Canyon Creek Park. Um CDBG allowed for a brand new large and small playground and um including safety surfacing. So the current the play the previous playgrounds were completely outdated and they were not ADA accessible. So this one turned out great. The next um is Sierra Vista Park. This really didn't do these pictures don't do it justice, but many of you know there are new trails at Sierra Vista Park, which is the mountain biking park up in Northwest Reno. And so with all of those new trails, um the park's getting much more use, including some adaptive users. So with that, we needed to upgrade the facilities, including making the restrooms ADA accessible as well as the parking lot. And so again, our CDBG was able to pay for these improvements. Sterling Village Park. This is a tot lot and this is um a complete replacement to the old um lot that was there. It's playground swings and safety surfacing. It's approximately 2700 square feet, so it's smaller for smaller kids, which is why they call it a tot lot. Over the past program year, um, our CDBG funds served over 31,000 people. So, that's pretty incredible. Next, we'll go into some home projects. Home is our affordable housing fund. So, we had huge success in this area. One of the properties that opened was Copper Mesa Apartments. That's out in um the North Valley's area. I believe it's over 290 units. So just a a massive beautiful project that serves families. I believe that's one to four bedroomedroom apartments for 60% and below. Oravada Street Senior Apartments. This one is is right in the heart of Reno, I guess, if you will. And this is for extremely lowincome seniors. The majority of the units are 40 40% and below units. So, um, very low rents and they are under construction for phase two. So, phase one closed out last year and now phase two is under construction getting ready to open. We're all familiar with this one, Vintage at Washington Station, which is just right around the corner here. Um, this is a couple hundred, I think 250 units of affordable senior housing, all 60% and below with about four units for 50% and below our home ARP grants. So, we we received home funds as part of CARES act, which is known as home ARP. So, these funds go through the WO County home consortium as well as the regular home funds. And so that's our collaborative between Reno Sparks and Wo County. And I thought it was important to highlight how some of these funds did benefit our neighbors in Sparks. So the home consortium granted um a a to Reno Housing Authority. They ended up developing this project. This was a an empty lot and the housing authority came in and they converted it into a single three-story building with 15 housing units and it serves 30 to 60% AMI and four of the units are projectbased subsidized which means four of the units will always be affordable to where people will only pay 30% of their income toward the rent. So no matter what our FMRs do, their rent is going to be based off their income. And just to let you know, the home consortium, city of Reno as the lead, we're pretty high performing when it comes to our home ARP and our home grants, all of our grants actually, but we're spending our home ARP faster than most jurisdictions. So um we're really proud of that fact. Our home art grant also paid for rental assistance for our Reno Works program. After our Reno Works participants graduate, we pay for a couple of months when they move into their new places so they can get on their feet and then we slowly will pay like 100% the first month, then 50% until they can get on their feet to help them be more successful. So, we served 19 households last program year. Home ARP also paid for supportive services. We subgranted out quite a bit of money, some to community services agency and that was for emergency rental assistance as well as housing counseling and case management. We also um granted money to domestic violence resource center which this was such a special project um close just very close to my heart. Um this was for um therapeutic services. So with licensed therapists for women staying in their safe house or their domestic violence shelter to help them achieve, you know, just to stay achieve stability and transition into their transitional living program to be able to become self-sufficient away from their abusive situation. So just through those two supportive services program, we served almost 1,200 households. And the last grant we'll talk about today is ESG. So that's our other federal grant. It stands for emergency solutions grant. This grant serves our lowest of income population, so 30% and below or people that are homeless. We use it to pay for rent and deposit assistance. So it really kind of helps supplement our already existing program, just helps with those super lowincome individuals. So we helped 87 households with that funding and we of course leverage it with all of this other funding that we get. Um some of that other funding was the original um grant from the legislature known as AB396 um for rental assistance. We also get the account for um affordable account for housing trust funds from the state. So we use that as well and um this is very successful this year. Actually we are the regional leader and provider for rental assistance. So we're very proud of what this program has done. Again we are housing and neighborhood development. Our mission is to create viable living environments for low to moderate income individuals and families. Here is a recommended motion and I'm happy to take any questions. Great. Any questions? Go ahead. Yeah. Um, so Copper Mesa Apartments is in my ward and I've taken a tour there. It's a really great um facility that they have available, play equipment and a really great like community center with a theater in it and um game room and everything. It's got a lot of really great amenities for the community there. And uh you're correct, it's one to four bedrooms in the apartments. And they have like little kind of um bungalow things too where it's one bedroom with a garage. That's really nice um for people that have want to have more of like a house kind of living environment. And there's a lot of like open space and trails around there um as well. So I've heard really great things from the community about that um development and it's really um well done in my opinion. So, thanks for uh including that in your presentation. Thank you. Okay. Anyone else? No. Okay. Second. I have a motion and a second. All those in favor say I. All those opposed. Motion carries. Okay. Thanks, Elaine. Thanks. I'm staying for the next Yeah. What do we Oh, D2. D2. Sorry, I thought it was something else. Go right ahead. Okay. Um D2. So, this is the affordable housing fee reduction request. Um, of course, alignment with the strategic plan, economic opportunity, homelessness, and affordable housing. Just a quick history. In 2099, state law was changed to enable local jurisdictions to um incentivize affordable housing through subsidizing any kind of enterprise fund fees. So in 2020, um this city council adopted an ordinance which set up the affordable housing fee reduction program, the standards, and the criteria. The application that you have before you today is for Air Relief on Harvard. This is a brand new project. They have not even broken ground yet. It's 168 units of affordable housing um with income averaging at or below 60% AMI. Um you can kind of tell on the map here. It's just north of Vasser on Vasser and Harvard. they are eligible for the waiver and they are requesting the last $60,000 that this council has allotted toward a reduction in building permit fees. So, just to jog your memories, back in February, I believe it was February 26th meeting, um, development services brought forward, you know, a proposal, how much more money are we going to spend in building permit fees? And it was $60,000. So Aer Leaf on Harvard was in the queue which means they were just in line to receive any kind of fees that we had available and so um they decided to come forward at this time for that remaining 60,000. Um they have spent more than that and their building fees are going to be considerably more than that but you know as you know making these projects pencil financially every little bit helps. Oh I love this slide. Um, so these are the pre previous approval that this council has made and really with the ordinance that you passed and the creation of this program, it has helped develop 2,113 affordable units. So, and if you, you know, add that up over there, that's over $12 million in fees that we have subsidized to create affordable housing. So, this is really something to be proud of. So today, our last pending approval that we will see probably um for some time um is a relief on Harvard for 168 units and $60,000. After your approval today, we will have no remaining funds in the building subsidy or the sewer subsidy. Um and the total units that um you have contributed to creating will be um 2,281. So, here is the recommended motion. I'm happy to answer any questions on the project. I also have Ellie Riley here from PAC West Housing um for any questions that I may not be able to answer. Okay, so much. Okay, questions? Nothing. Okay, go ahead. Quick. Um, so you mentioned this is the last 60,000 and I remember we recently got rid of um a termination date or expiration date for some sewer credits. Was that this type of funding at all? Uh it was two projects that were supposed to be affordable housing and they had uh sewer credits that had expired a couple years ago and council voted to take away the expiration dates. Are those funds tied to this type of subsidy unrelated. Okay. Okay. All right. That was my only question. Thank you. Thank you. I'm gonna send it Councilman Ree. Thank you so much for the presentation. Um, one thing I will say is you said at the last slide, if you'll go back one slide, you said um uh total units that you all have created as 2281. And and the truth is is that you have helped to create those. you and your team have led us through those discussions. You know, we sometimes don't understand the difference between ESG funds and CDBG funds and the HUD various guidelines, but because you have been able to um educate us and kind of sometimes drag us kicking and screaming along the way, those are really your work and your team's work, right? So, I want to make sure that we give credit where credit is due. Um, these are all fantastic. Of course, I am supportive of these $60,000 on the line today. What I will say is between this and some of the work that you are doing with the um the uh future dashboard with the work that you're doing with the state with Eddie House, there's just a lot of positive momentum in this space and you know it's the most critical thing that we can be dealing with. So I am grateful for the work that Hand does and each of you individually. Um, I will also say, uh, PAC West is a great partner in the space. You know, we don't always have the ability to choose who we partner with. Um, sometimes it's by nature of the fact that they've been here a while or they're in this space. These are the best of the best in terms of how they work with this community. And and the layering of these kinds of funds is complicated, too. And so um obviously um my hope is that we will find ways to um you know grow this fund again or maybe we'll make allocations in better budget years or the state may allocate funds in a different way or the federal government as well. Um but for my part just sincere gratitude for all the hard work and and these lists they represent you know dollars and names and units but beyond that they represent human beings and and people who have a a house and a roof over their head and a safe place to call home. So uh it's much more than the slide deck presents in terms of the people involved. So thank you. Thank you Council Member Ree. And yes, Hand has the best team. None of this could be possible without without them and without this council support. So, thank you. Well, that should make your mama proud, huh? Okay. Uh, what do we need? Uh, we just need a motion. Um, Madame Mayor, I move to approve the request for subsidization. Okay. I have a motion. I have a second. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you. Thanks so much. Good seeing you. You too, Madame Clerk. I think we need to go back to an item and I'll turn to my colleague, Miss Eert, um about this. Thank for uh Thank you for that. Um I would like to request a reconsideration of item I believe it was B9. And I'll second that. Okay. So, I have a motion and a second. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed. Motion carries. [Music] Okay. Madame clerk, don't we want to take B9? Oh, we're going to go to B9. I thought we were putting that on the very back end. Oh what? I thought we just wanted to reconsider and then we'll put it on the back end. Okay, reconsider. Okay, we will stay because um we have people that are here that um are in the gallery. So, we'll come back to yours. Okay. All right. Okay, madame clerk. Item D6. Hold on. Item D6. Okay. Any uh public comment on this item? Uh there's no public comment. No correspondence was received. Uh the city attorney does need to read in the Okay. I'm going to send it to you, Carl. Take it away. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Ordinance introduction bill number 7320 for possible action case number LDC26-00001 or Crest Drive zoning map amendment. A request has been made for a zoning map amendment from large residential 1acre LLR-1 zoning district to mixed employment me zoning district. The plus or - 2.36 acre site is located on the north side of Orcrest Drive, plus or - 450 ft east of its intersection with Carson Lane, 555 and 645 Orcrest Drive. The subject site has a master plan land use designation of mixed employment me. All right. Thank you so much. Uh, Councilman Ree. Oh, no. I don't um I have Go ahead. Okay. Um, I just wanted to kind of talk about this on the record a little bit. Um, this is an area that is misaligned with the master plan currently. Right. Correct. So, this is something that is bringing this property into conformance with the master plan. Okay. I just want that to be very clear for anybody watching this in the future because I have a real um uh interest in keeping residential property residential. But since this is a specific uh situation, um and also do we wave fees for people to get their uh property zoned in conformance with the master plan? Yes. Okay. So, we're we're actually trying to incentivize this type of um change. So, I just wanted to talk about that. Um and I don't know if anybody else has any questions. Quick question. Did do we I thought we waved the fees for like a year or two years after the title 18 change. That changed it. Is it forever? Yeah, you might there might have been some other um changes that we did wave fees for, but for this particular application um until we can bring those things into conformance that we're waving the fees. Gotcha. Thank you. All right. Anything else? No that's okay. Thank you so much. Give me a motion, Council Reese or Councilwoman Eert. Go ahead. Either or. Um I make a motion. Um I'm confused because both of you have your lights on. Oh. Uh Naomi motion to adopt ordinance refer refer the ordinance for second reading. Okay. Thanks Carl. Okay. I have a motion and second. All those in favor say I. All those opposed. Motion carries unanimously. Okay. Next. Madame clerk. F2. Okay. Uh I'm going to send it. Uh any public comment on item F2? No. And I'm going to say there's no one signed in. We did receive uh one letter that was distributed as a letter that was neutral or concern. All right. Mr. Hall, Mr. the infamous ordinance. Ordinance adoption. Ordinance number 6726, ordinance to amend title 16, chapter 1601 of the Reno Municipal Code, entitled Fire Administration and Codes by repealing the 2018 International File Code and adopting the 2024 International Fire Code and appendences B, C, D, E, H, L, and N as amended. And the 2024 International Wildland Urban Interface Code and appendencies A, B, and C as amended. and other matters properly relating there too. Okay, so we have Boston in the house. The biggest the biggest superstar. Is there anything you want to add to the record? And Boston's like doesn't want to get up. He's saying I'm not moving. I'm not moving. So, in in light of making sure that Boston doesn't have to do any more work, can I please have a motion? Move to adopt. I have a motion. Second. I have a second. I have a comment. Go ahead. All right. So, I'm a little confused. We got a letter, right, asking for an appeal process on this. Yes ma'am. That it was dropped out and then could we add it back in? And this came from, I think Tesla. Correct. So, could you just explain what's going on? Sean O'Brien, Reno, Fire Department, prevention captain. Um, their letter addresses the fact that we did not adopt section 112, which is about appeals process, which requires the formation of appeals board. We haven't had that since I've been with the department. We have an internal process and we do have a link on the website where anybody that has an appeal can go fill everything out, explain it. So if they do have alternate means or methods or something that meets the code, they absolutely have the right to appeal. It will be reviewed and approved by the fire marshal or it could be denied. Could be. Yes. If it doesn't meet the intent of the code, of course. Right. So you think they don't understand that there's uh it there is an appeal process. It's just not specifically laid out in the code. Correct. Okay. Thank you. Okay, I have a motion and a second. All those in favor say I. I have a quick question. Wait, I just quick question. So, were they notified of that that they they can actually request a change or appeal? No. Was there any happy to reach back out to them and respond and let them know? I think that would be good. Absolutely. Thank you. Yes, of course. All right. So, all those in favor say I. I. All those opposed. Motion carries unanimously. Good job. Thank you. What are you going to go do now? Um, I was off at three, so I met Astro Astro yesterday. You met your Boston's friend, Astro Astro. Oh, okay. He's so cute. How's he doing? Good. He's good. Okay. Now, we are going to head into I think so before we head into boards um and commissions, why don't we head over to your item, Councilwoman Eert. Yeah. So, item B9, just want to talk about this a little bit. Um, city manager, uh, Brian and I were discussing this and, uh, that this is going to be a really great benefit to the North Valley's community. Um, it's a step in the process of, uh, building a, uh, North Valley's corporate yard. And can you just talk a little bit about what what we're trying to do with this project overall? Yeah, absolutely. Justin George, senior civil engineer for public works. Um, the North Valley's Corpyard project is to give our operation and maintenance folks uh a foothold up in the North Valley's area. So, currently um streets and sewers have to deploy from the downtown area. What this would do is put a remote or a satellite corporation yard up in the north valley. So, it's on North Virginia just north of Stead Boulevard. So, this means that they could um respond from the north valleys rather than driving all the way up 395 or North Virginia to get out there. So, quicker response times for our streets and sewer crews, less wear and tear on the vehicles. So, it it helps us out on on a couple of different fronts and also quicker and better response to the North Valley's community. That's great. And I happen to know uh Dennis Owens who's on I think M. He took me on a a ride along on a street sweeper. So I know he lives out in my ward. So would people like that be able to just go to work in that location or would they just deploy from there if there's some kind of um you know weather event or street sweeping they need to do? How would that work? Yeah, I think the ultimate goal is to have the the opportunity the facilities up there for folks to be able to have that be their their kind of centralized home base where they can just respond out of there. They come to work great out of that location. We can have equipment stored there so they don't have to come all the way downtown. Great. Great. I'm sure people will love the the shorter commute. Thank you guys so much. I just wanted to talk about that and just give you guys a moment to shine. So, thank you. All right. Very good. Thank you. Okay. Uh motion to approve. Second. Second. All those say I council because you have your life. You one sec. Sorry. Hold on one sec. Wait, wait, wait. I'm good now. Hold on. Ah, okay. G1. Um, this is to point to my G1enior. Is that what G1 is? Oh, okay. I thought that was my nab. Okay. So, at this time, I'd like to appoint uh Melba I'm can't say that last name. I'm so sorry. Kazak um Czek, I'm so sorry. But Melba, um Jeff Bonia. Okay. And um that is all at this time just because I need to finish doing some other interviews. But so I have a motion from Councilwoman Eert, a second from Councilman Reese. All those in favor say I. All those opposed. Motion carries. Okay. Item uh what is this? G2. That's W two. Sending it to you. Councilwoman Der. My one open position at this time. I'd like to appoint Mike Ginsburg, who's currently serving as an alternate, into a regular NAB position, and I'll leave the alternate open, and I'll come back at a later date to fill that. So, Mike Ginsburg for this one. Okay. Thanks so much. I have a motion from Councilwoman Der. Second. I have a second from Councilman Martinez. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed. Motion carries unanimously. Okay. Heading into um H1, City Council comments, including announcements. Oh, G3. Sorry. Sorry, I'm skipping over you. Um, this goes back to you, Councilwoman Eert. Yeah. Um, I would like Victoria and I would like to appoint Trenton Kelly. And that is it at this time. Okay. Thank you so much. So I have a motion. Second. I have a second. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed. Motion carries. All right. Item H1. Anyone have anything that you want to put on the record? No. I do. Okay. Councilman, go ahead. Yeah. I just um I know this is something that you're interested in, Madame Mayor. Um I've been receiving a fair amount of letters and I suspect um Council Member Martinez has as well. Pretty soon the Truckucky River Flood Authority is supposed to pick a option for the Mill and McCarron property. Uh, one of the options is to leave it pretty darn natural with just some trails and the other option is to um allow space for something like 10 uh ball fields, flat fields. Um, I just wanted to let council know in case they have opinions, they should reach out to Miguel and myself. Um, we're receiving, at least I am, I assume you are, a lot of letters. So far, the letters are probably, um, nine to one in favor of more Flatfields. I'm just letting you know. Uh, I they're picking up momentum, so I have to assume the decision must be coming up on our next meeting. So, I wanted to put this just on your radar because I know several of you are very, very interested. Um, and then when is your next meeting? October 10th. October 10th. And I know you were going to put an item on their agenda for Pemrook. Yes. Yeah. Still working with George and the chair on that one. Okay. Um I don't know if it would help, but I would love to maybe submit a letter of support in any way we can. Um because I think, you know, um George is very supportive of initiatives. But I would love to see that discussion so we can all because I think that would also help this discussion. Don't you think it could? Could it? I think it could have an opposite effect actually if they thought there was an alternative then maybe that would take the pressure off having to build fields on McKill McCarron. I'd just assume see both. But I'm not trying to predetermine my vote here. But I'm just saying if we push for Pembroke I think it might take the pressure off Mil McCarron. So, I'm not sure the timing actually. It could I don't but I don't want to necessarily do that. I mean, yeah, I think we should just take one. My fear is then you never get to making sure that that stays um it stays. Oh, I think we absolutely need to do both, frankly, um without saying too much about my voting. But I've just been supportive of that for 15 years before I ever came on council. And so, you know, that's been my position. So whatever the team feels strategically you want to push for, I'm fine with that. I guess my biggest concern is preserving that as a flood plane and making sure that we're not building on it. I 100% agree. Yeah. So whatever you if you think the timing's now, then let's do it now. I just I don't know when like when you're going to be able to do it. So I didn't know if that helped or hurt. Could be either or. It's a hard situation to read really. Okay. Um, that being said, uh, anyone else? Yes, I do have Go ahead. Um, I just wanted to talk about, uh, the fall festival that's going to be in my ward. Um, it's going to be, um, October 4th from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at Dorothy Melindon Park. Um, there's going to be uh, free pumpkins for the kids and a little area to decorate them. There's going to be face painting, food trucks. So, we're going to have two different food trucks and a coffee truck um for the parents. And um the uh rolling wreck is going to come out and do some games for the kids at the park. And um there'll be little bags of candies and some booths for um some local um nonprofits. We're going to have a KMTB there. And um I believe Reno Food Systems is coming. I know last year they brought um their their last harvest of the year to the uh fall festival and people got to have um free fresh produce which was great. Um so just want to let people know about it. There is free food for the first hundred people that come and this is a uh again at Dorothy Melendon Park just trying to um bring the community together and have events for local families to participate in W 4. And of course anybody can come, but um specifically trying to activate our park spaces out there and um have fun familyfriendly events. So thank you. Okay. Thank you so much. Oh, one last thing. There's going to be like a a setup for fall family pictures, too. Okay, great. Thank you so much. Okay, that being said, I'm going to send it to Brandy. Hi. Yeah, two things. Madame Mayor, um just circling back with you and I on the um illegal use of Oh good. e motorcycles. Wanted to Well, we were going to request you and I were going to request a report from the team, from the city manager's team in October on the different activities, the education campaign, and then just where we are regionally as well. I'm so glad she brought this up. Go ahead. In the form of a council memo, in the form of a presentation. What's your preference? I here's what I'd say. I I think all of you have had concern when you see these motorcycle um ebikes. What else do you call them? Eater bikes. This is ebikes. I don't know. But um every ward is really challenged with it. And I'm afraid if we really don't go out there publicly to the extent that we need to, we jeopardize um kids in the community and also the risk of losing parents. I would love to see Jackie a presentation from Chief Nance. And you know who else is really good in this space is um city attorney um Brian Sudi. Mr. Sudi, I hope you're watching. Um but Brian Sudi is really really good in this space. But I got to tell you, I think we're just fed up. We are fed up. People are going to get I mean people have died on these things, but that it's going to get worse if we don't do something. And I will say the other um issue that I'd like to bring up because this happens a lot on my Karen because I live up there but you're see Bry's seeing it in her ward. You guys are all seeing it I'm sure. Am I right? All of you. Yeah. Um but on McCarron and McCarron runs through all of our wards. I have got to tell you I am so concerned and we have got to do something and we have and I'm at that point now um where ENDOT needs to be held accountable. So, I would like to, if you remember when we had this ENDOT discussion, we asked them to come back, Jackie. Um, and that hasn't happened. So, let's get them back in the room. And at the same time, I really appreciate Councilwoman Anderson's initiative here because she's spot on. And as a mom, she could probably elaborate much better than I can. Very glad I couldn't afford these things for my for myself. She said, um, second thing, thank you. is this Saturday's community fitness day and we in Demani Ranch are very happy to have new equipment that has been installed and we're having an event to celebrate. Um it'll be Saturday from 9:00 a.m. um I think until about noon at Deonti Ranch Park. We're going to have face painting and movement, some different um fitness demos and a police versus fire challenge in case you're interested. So um I hope you guys can join us. Um did any of you guys go to the game? I was unable to go to the game because I was at a gall. I went It was great. It was a Yeah, it was awesome. It was really nice to see the camaraderie and actually I was super impressed with their ability to play football. It was impressive. But you were probably watching all of the Pop Warner coaches in the community all on one field. So there it was it was awesome. No, they were really fit and like running their tails off. They took it seriously. I loved it. It was great. Yeah, I'm I'm But they asked me who I wanted to vote for and I said I can't or root for and I said I can't do that. So give me one color on each. So that's how I I went down. Um okay. And then uh Councilman Martinez. Thank you. Just two things really quickly along the same lines of the fitness court uh in Ward One. There's going to be uh ribbon cutting ceremony at Bradhead Park. So, sort of activating that space east of the river uh the east uh eastern part of the river and incorporating another fitness court uh there at Broadhead Park. And then second, really giving a huge shout out to Alex Troop who came and gave public comment. Uh outside of what he said, he's also a member of the youth city council. So, I'm very appreciative of you all as our council members and supporting that co council continuing to exist and providing these leadership opportunities for our youth to stay engaged and contribute to our community. So, thank you so much for all that support. That's awesome. Okay, wait, just reiterate that again. Broadhead Park, Broadhead Park tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. There's going to be a ribbon cutting for the fitness court that was just installed, similar to the one that's happening at the Monty Ranch on Saturday. That's awesome. Thanks, Nathan. Nathan's not here, but amazing. Nathan's awesome. Okay, go ahead, Councilman Ree. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I just want to acknowledge two things. One was this morning there was a uh walk, safe routes to school walk uh at Billinghurst Middle School. So, we had the opportunity to do that. Uh the complexity of my feeling about it though is that over the last month we've also had four incidents including an incident yesterday where a community member's child was hit in a crosswalk uh by a car. And so uh this morning I arrived to city hall and there were nine messages from parents in that area. So I've already elevated of course to our staff who are fantastic and working on it, but like you I'm concerned about a particular area up there near Billinghurst Middle School. I also had the opportunity to meet K9 uh dog Wo County School District police dog Astro at the event and so that was pretty spectacular. And then the last thing I would do is just invite everyone um on October 18th. It's the battle for the paddle which is uh police versus fire pickle ball fundraiser. So that's going to be very exciting. It's at the Rain Sparks Convention Center from 8 to noon. And this is a um Justin Hope Foundation related um fundraiser as well. And so uh Arthur and Justin and their family are great uh uh part of the FIRE family and the city of Reno. Carol um FIER family here at the city of Reno. So I hope everyone's going to be ready for pickle ball because Vice Mayor Taylor and I are ready to roll. Oh, I can't wait to see that. Good. Then you guys should play on a team and we are. You're toast. You could play Jackie and and Jennica. Jennica is fierce. She's got some game over there. So, Jackie and Jennica versus Devin, I'll bring the first kits for all of your your injuries. I would like Can I just add one more thing to your plate, Jackie? Please call Bill Thomas and ask over there to have Vision Zero come and make a presentation so Councilwoman Anderson um can get acquainted with them and that we can also ask them how we can help them and vice versa. You want them here or you want them at RGC? No, have them come here. Vision zero. Okay. Um because that is their role in the community and I'm not seeing much and so maybe it's just that we're ju just they're different channels. I don't know, but I'd love to know what they're doing and how they can help council members um like Councilwoman Anderson in her ward um and anyone else who needs help and assistance. So, I think that would be awesome. Um and then last but not least, I want to send it to you, Councilman Martinez. Give us a motion. If there's anything else, let me know because I Oh, we've got we've got we've got public comment and don't we have um RDA? Okay. I'm going to send it back to you, Madam Clerk, for public comment. Uh, there's no one signed in, but we did receive 14 comments which were general in nature or not directly associated with an agenda item after 4 p.m. yesterday, September 23rd. They've been distributed as uh seven letters in opposition and several seven neutral or concerned. Okay. Thank you so much. Um, okay, Madame Clerk. Um, I would like to um Yeah, we have to adjourn this one. So, I have a motion. I have a second. All those in favor say I. All those opposed. Motion carries. Uh, madame clerk, please call the role for the Reno Redevelopment Agency. Uh, we are calling ro for the Wednesday, September 24th, 2025 redevelopment agency board. Vice Mayor Taylor. Council member Derer here. Council member Martinez. Council member Eert here. Council member Reese here. Council member Anderson here. Mayor Shivy here. You do have a quorum. She cannot play pickle ball. I forgot you're injured. Jackie's injured, by the way. I want everyone to know she cannot play pickle ball. Okay. Just She's now out of the league. Thank you. I forgot. She's very injured. Sorry, Jackie. All right. I wasn't going to play. She doesn't She said that's fine. I wasn't going to play, but now I remember why. Okay, take it away. Um, uh, I was going to say, Councilwoman Turnney, take it away. Uh, ACM attorney, go ahead. Take it away. Public comment first, madam clerk, do we have public comment? There is no public comment. Okay, there you go. And I'll move to approve the agenda for September 24th. Okay, I have a motion. I have a second. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed. Motion carries. Move to approve approval of the minutes. I have a motion. I have a second. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed. Motion carries unanimously. Casey, I'm turning. Okay. Finally, good afternoon. We will wait for clerk and IT health to install upload our presentation. Um, honorable chairperson and board members of the redevelopment agency, Ashley Attorney, assistant city manager for the record. Uh, we're very excited to bring you something today that is going to look a little bit different from anything that you've seen in the redevelopment agency before. Uh, one thing that we talk about a lot in this organization is we all work very hard and everyone is very very committed to the work that we're doing for our constituents every day. Least of all you all. Uh, the work that you've all been putting in for many years is what has gotten us to the point today. And part of what we forget sometimes is taking a minute to celebrate some of the things that we've done in the space and then also loop back to the why behind we're doing this. And this will be a theme that you will start to see more in the coming months out of the redevelopment agency is tying back a lot of the initiatives we're doing based off of the direction that you as a body originally gave us. So the goal is you set the vision, we go execute the plan. And so you will see more of that coming forward. Uh what we want to talk about today is actually give an opportunity to think and commend each of you for your leadership and your discipline and commitment in the redevelopment agency space. What we're going to discuss today is the wrapup of the fiscal year 2025 and give you a preview into 26 and what we're already working on. But really that comes from years of commitment and focus to get us to this place. And that comes after nearly two decades of dormcancy in the redevelopment agency. So this is a very significant moment. You just may not know it. So we wanted to take some time to go over that with you. Uh some of the things we're going to talk about today are what's happened in the last year. Uh, one of those is the agency relaunch, which we'll go into more detail. We also spent a lot of our time in placemaking. That's something we knew that was paramount to this community for activation and helping to bring folks back downtown and to a lot of our other redevelopment areas. We'll go over some of the improvements to our river and our built environment. Again, commitment from this body of dedicating ARPA funds and allowing us to be able to start the transition from ARPA money into redevelopment funds. A lot of that work was done again at your direction and with incredible support from the city staff and the city side of the organization. We'll talk about Restore. We'll talk about TIFF and then give you an idea of what's coming in the upcoming year. We're here. We started uh as I mentioned almost two decades of dormcancy in the redevelopment space. This came about last August through the leadership and direction from this body. We relaunched and re-energized the redevelopment agency. This was a significant opportunity as it helped to align the direction for staff of where you want to see things educated and to be moving forward. Um, in November of 2024, this body also approved the bylaws for your redevelopment agency advisory board. This is really significant. This board then was appointed in January. They're here to advise you on applications and programs throughout the redevelopment space. and they convened their first meeting in January of 2025. That was the first meeting that this body had met in almost eight years. So again, the significance of the progress we've made in just one short year shows you there were many years in the back waiting for that. What we've been saying internally is that it's time to execute. We are done planning. We are done discussing. We are done setting that vision. You have done that for us and it is our job to just execute on those things. So, I'm going to turn it over to Brian Mardle, revitalization manager, and he's going to go into all of the details of the tactical things that we did this last year in order to help execute that vision. And then we'll wrap up by giving you an idea of what's to come for this fiscal year. Thank you. Good afternoon, Madam Chair and agency members. Brian McCart, revitalization manager. So, I want to go through uh as the assistant city manager attorney mentioned that it does take a long time to see some of these uh projects come to fruition and it takes some funding. And so, over two years ago, this body, well, council approved $2.5 million in state and local fiscal recovery funds, otherwise known as ARPA, to start some projects. And it's actually taken two to three years to see some of those projects actually come to fruition. So, the first one I want to mention is this past May is West Plaza. We've known Westery Plaza has been a challenge for quite a long time and with the Truckucky River uh vision plan um you know a lot of people say we do a lot of planning and not a lot of action. So we took that plan uh the council approved the ARPA funds and we were able to start that project. Um big credit goes to the public works department uh and especially Brana Nichols for leading a lot of these projects to fruition. But upper lefthand corner was the original design that we worked on with Dig Studios and it's nice to see a final project actually come out that looks fairly similar and close to the what was proposed. Uh so this came from the Truckucky Vision plan. Um this project was delivered just before Memorial Day and since then has been activated. We've had families, we've had um people down there enjoying Harmony on the River, food trucks, coffee trucks. Uh there is the Flicks on the Bricks that's currently happening this month. I think that's one of the uh few remaining activations to take place and it's great to see people using this place even when it is not actively programmed or an event occurring. Uh it's a nice new spot for people to just take a take a break along the river and that was the intent. The other big project that was approved that was delivered in June is the new locomotion plaza. Uh this was again part of the Virginia Street Placemaking plan. I have to get my plans right. And it said that for the first phase, we should really focus on locomotion plaza. And that's what we did with the design. And that brought in shade. One of the most requested things was shade and seating. And now there's modular uh and removable furniture in the space so that when somebody wants to program or promoter comes in, if they want the umbrellas and the seating, they can have it. If not, everything can be stored away in six shipping containers that are now located on the plaza. Uh there's retail space for pop-up retail. There's dry bar so that vendors can come in um throw some ice on some beverages and use that as essentially a food truck. Uh this has been programming with programmed with events like Off the Rails concert series, House Party plays the tracks. Um I think was that the other night when I was down here? It was the other night. It was the other night. Yeah. Great event. Very cool. And guess what else? I noticed your selfie spot. Selfie spot so that people don't actually about that yet. At least to take a selfie. Yeah, I loved it. I was and people were loving downtown. It was great. In addition to this, there was electrical upgrade upgrades and lighting upgrades that were needed because, you know, at times it was hard to activate that plaza with with some constraints. Uh but that is up and going. But best of all, it's it's one thing to improve a space, it's another thing to activate that space. So, it takes a lot of attention to bring people down. Rachel McIntyre, our placemaking manager, if she was here, she would be giving this report, but she can't be here right now. Uh, but she has done amazing work uh bringing over 70 new activations to these plazas as part of our pilot activation program. In addition to her efforts, um, in addition to that program, we've seen a 40% increase in special events in the area. Uh, and best of all, wide demographics, families are coming around again. Uh, it's great to see. There are three key programs that Rachel championed. Her baby this year was Western Lights Festival. I'm assuming you all attended. Uh it exceeded everyone's expectations with 61,000 attendees over three days. I think the first day was 10,000. By Saturday, Sunday, I think we were getting 25,000 people those nights. Uh the weather cooperated. This next year is already being planned. Uh so that Rachel doesn't kill herself trying to do this all by herself. There's now an organization dedicated to Western Lights so that it can exist beyond any of us and it become a new legacy event. Uh and the reason why Western Lights program is it was one of the slowest times of year uh in an area that didn't get a lot of activation and um now this is a new legacy event that brings people and hopefully visitors and tourists to our downtown area. I think you all mentioned how much you enjoyed the holiday lights festival and the Christmas tree lighting this year. that's been expanded to a weekend event uh with a lot more vendors. I think you all noticed the uh the Christmas train that was driving around again, a lot more families and kids downtown. That is being expanded to two weekends going forward. As well as a lot of other promoters have added on when is that? Uh it is the weekend of Thanksgiving. So third Friday, Saturday, Sunday post Thanksgiving and the weekend after. But other promoters and activities have also taken place. So now we're going to see the the casinos participating with their own sort of holiday uh vendor special. I believe there's something going on at the bowling stadium as well and craft fairs and things like that. So that has expanded to be a true holiday themed uh activity in the downtown area. And then I mentioned that we had all those activations in downtown uh weekly recurring activation. There was 11 of those that were that were going on either weekly or monthly. And to do that we branded it as the city's river and rails summer event series. And so it's enough to improve a space. It's enough to uh invite people down or it's enough to have activities, but you have to make the invitation for them to come. So we put some money towards some marketing. And a lot of people saw billboards coming in from Spanish Springs that these events were occurring in these areas. If you saw some airport signage, uh there was they were placed there. And we revamped uh the city special events website and the application process so it's super transparent so that people know what's going on. three challenges. Improve a space, activate it, invite people to participate. And so Rachel did a fantastic job doing all of that. In addition to those plaza improvements, we did see some improvements along the river and the streetscape. Uh that was another thing that came out of the the Treky River Vision plan. And some low hanging fruit or early early stage improvements were new trash cans along the river. These are wildlife proof. uh and they were branded as the downtown Reno Riverwalk and that goes from Boost Street all the way to Broadhead Park. There's some new lighting that was placed uh so that the park sort of uh lanes or trails are are lit. And then you're going to see wayfinding signs coming later this year. Again, big thank you to the public works department for for making those improvements happen. The Restore facade and tent improvement program has been a huge success. We saw many of those projects uh finished and be completed this year. Uh some of the most prestigious ones are obviously the best bet motor lodge. Uh the birdies is another one that a lot of people reference. If you've seen the new Derby uh hair uh barber along California Avenue, Derby was an applicant, but the owner of that entire building that transformed it, did all new landscaping, the outside patio was a restore project. Pigeon Head Brewery built a little beer garden next to their property. Uh, Reno Bar and Grill is an entire building and a new business. And the best part of that was 13 new businesses were supported through this program. We have since launched Restore Round two. We've currently received more requests than we have funds available. So, it'll be fun to uh to see how that uh comes out. But a million dollars in in ARPA funds that was allocated by the council facilitated about $6 million in private investment and private improvements throughout the area since relaunching the redevelopment agency and our participation program. And our participation program is how we invite private developers to come and seek our support in making developments happen. And since that program was announced, we've seen hundreds of millions of dollars of of development proposed. We've received seven tiff applications, tax increment financing applications. Five of those are currently under gap analysis, which is they're being reviewed to see if this funding is truly needed. Uh and if this if funding is received, can this project be completed? And so there are five currently under review. Hundreds of millions of dollars um hundreds of units of new multif family housing is part of that. We did uh deny one application mainly due to ineligibility because the project was almost close to completion. Uh so they were denied and the one approved project was the largest investment in RE's history and that is the Grand Sier Resort Arena project. That's phase one which is the parking structure, the community ice rink, the arena itself and the golf uh facility. That's almost a billion dollars in projects that were facilitated through our tax increment financing program. I also want to mention some activity that was indirectly related to the redevelopment agency which should be mentioned. The downtown Reno Partnership has done some amazing beautifification projects throughout the area. That is the tree that is the planters, the flowering planters throughout downtown that look absolutely amazing. I didn't expect them to bloom as much as they have, but they've flowered and bloomed quite nicely. And they also doubled the amount of trash cans, branded trash cans throughout the area. So, beautifification with planters and trash cans. Should be mentioned that Jay Resort opened their festival grounds in July. Uh they've been having multiple music festivals there. The university invested over $200 million in their brand new business building that is in the Gateway District as they come closer to downtown. Uh that's the John Tullk business building. And then the Museum of Art invested $60 million in a new expansion. It's the uh Stacy and Charles Matthew um Education Research Center. $60 million. I would love to say that adds to our property taxes, but that those are nonprofits, so we don't see that, but it's great to see those investments take place. Those are those are fairly big. And the last one is uh the Harris project, formerly known as the Reno City Center project, now known as Revival, is finally back online through bankruptcy. We've been working with that developer, the master developer, Alquist, to make sure that that project keeps proceeding. Uh helping out where whichever way we can. Uh, and with fine entertainment, um, doing the the first floor retail, we should be seeing that come about fairly soon and start opening up some doors and some, uh, new businesses there. And last, I'll mention is housing activity. Jane Jacobs has a famous quote that says, "It's not enough to bring people downtown. You have to actually put them there." And that's why housing is so important to having a thriving uh, urban area. And we've often said that we've we're seeing a thousand new units of multif family housing coming to the downtown area. We're almost close to seeing those h thousand homes come. And so, madame mayor, you wanted your thousand homes. This is your thousand homes. But we have two projects that are close to finishing. One of those is the Winter Street project. It's right behind Bricky's Tavern. It's about 100 units. That should come online in the next few months. And then the other remaining one is the Old Ross Manor, which is now called 118 West. should be open next month. Um so once they're done, those are those thousand units. Now I'll admit that there is a sort of quiet part in the development pipeline and that is happening nationally. A lot of projects came online and along with tariffs and interest rates. Uh we have not seen a lot of new development projects proposed, but we do have about 1500 uh units in the pipeline either. Ones we've received tiff applications for and ones that are currently being permitted. And so the two that you're most likely to see come online is Pine Street Town Homes that's already broken ground. Those are 48 new for sale town homes on Pine Street. That's the picture in the the lower right. And then across the street. Yes. So right kind of where Chrome Coffee Works is. Yeah. Across the street, Pine Street and Lake. I know exactly where it is. Yeah. The 48 are not going in on that site. It's It's across. It's across across diagonal. Yes. Yeah. I think that's parking overflow parking for the Renaissance, I think. Yeah. Yeah. Uh and then uh with the CAC uh project being demolished, um Prospector Apartments is going to be permitted. We should see permits for that next month. They hope to break ground and close the sale by December. So those are the two projects we're likely to see in the short term in the next few months. But going out farther, we have another 1500 housing units in the pipeline. And so that's a brief summary uh with what we've accomplished this year. With a small team and a relatively small budget, uh we've been able to achieve quite a bit. Uh and I'll invite assistant city manager Ashley Charnie back up to talk about what we're going to tackle this fiscal year. So thank you. Can I ask you Yeah. Yes, that is the old Ross Manor or formerly the colonial. I don't know who bought it. You know, Robera Ross was iconic in our community. I haven't seen her in a very, very long time, but it was Ross Manor. And so, every time you think of Ross Manor, you'd think of Robera Ross. And she was two and Yeah. And they were wonderful, wonderful people. And I just felt like they were so community connected. I don't know anything about who has purchased it, what they've done. It looks beautiful. So, I assume, but I just don't know what their vision is. Maybe you could tell us a little bit about who they are and what they're doing. It's quite a project. So, Roberto Ross did sell I worked I worked with Roberto on the what was pre DRP. It was the reg region alliance for downtown the RAD when Robera sold it. It has since exchanged hands twice. Okay. uh the new developer as I believe out of Southern California. They have gutted the building and they're taking it from I believe they haven't gutted the whole thing. There's a lot of the historic stuff left in it. So they are keeping We did a tour. Metaf Builders is doing it. Oh, is that who's doing it? Yeah, they give us a tour. The contractor on it. Yeah. Um no, all the historical accents are still there. It's going to be a beautiful building. They've been pressure washing the brick. It's going to be fantastic. But they they turned essentially small studio units into larger uh apartments. And so it's going from I believe 120 units down to 86 units. So a little bit more livable. I believe they had shared bathrooms in that building. So now I think every unit has its own bathroom. Um but it's going to be beautiful. It's close to finishing. I think by the end of next month, October, that should come online. But that developer is out of Southern California. New developer, not not new to this area. Does he come to Reno? Uh, I've had some conversations with them, but I haven't met them in person. Okay. But they're very about this project. Ask them to take a little trip up here. We could tour it. All right. Yeah. Does that answer all your questions about that? Yeah. No, I just think that's great because I, you know, I've been watching it and watching it and I always wondered who how that happened and I forgot you go that far back with Roberta and now I remember. Yeah. With the Rad. Remember Rad back in the day? Oh yeah. Who was on that? That was like Steve Pocalis I remember was on that. Was it Parl's? Yep. Par Steve who else was on there? Britain was on that. Who? Britain. Yeah Britain. It was uh involved with the the Puma the Puma downtown action plan that led to the DRP and I think DRP was created. Oh my god, that's so awesome. You were you didn't work for us then. You were both kind of. Yeah. Okay. Go ahead, Brandy. Sorry. All right. Anyone else? Great presentation. I got more. Oh, good. And there's more. Wait, there's more. We want to talk about where we're going. Okay, I love it. Keep going. Good news is this is all of what has happened last year. And so we would like to now switch over to where we're moving in FY26. And this is again the direction this body has given us based off of your budget priorities, based off of what you've told us you want from previously adopted plans. Again, the goal is execute. Uh the RAB will continue their engagement in their meeting. As Brian mentioned, we have the Holiday Lights Festival has been expanded to two weekends because it was so successful last year. Western Lights Festival will happen again near the end of February. The call for artists is open right now, so any artist should please go on to our website and submit for their call for artists. Uh, one thing we're very excited about is the RDA rebrand is coming. That's something that was important through this process as we are attempting to really tell the world the work that we are doing and the efforts that this body has put forward and attracting other developers to our area and letting everyone know what we're up to. Uh the rebrand is going to be very important for that and a fresh standalone website that will be coming in the coming months. Uh as Brian mentioned, we also have the wayfinding signs that are coming along with the help from public works. This was the remaining of the ARPA funds. The riverwalk banners will also be installed for a fresh view along the river. Uh the CIP plan, capital improvement plan, just as you have on the council side, you will have that coming forward on the RDA side in conjunction with your budget process. That will be led by this body based off of your directives. Uh we'll be bringing forward based off of other plans where we think they would align with that vision. Essentially checking in, is this where you still want us to go? And we will go execute. Uh the facade program for restore, as Brian mentioned, opened last month. It's been open just about 30 days now. Um we have already in the queue nearly double the amount of applications that we had from before from a dollar standpoint. So we're very excited to see how that scoring will work out. As we also mentioned, Record Street, the CAC is nearly demoed at this time. I think it's all gone actually gone. CAC is to the ground and we are now removing uh the rubble and cleaning up this location for the new prospector apartments. Uh tiff applications will continue to come in. We'll continue to manage those and bring those forward to the RAB and then to this body for your direction on how to proceed. One thing we're very excited about is the fourth street area plan. I know I did say no more plans. There's one plan. Um this is actually you can look at it more of a revamp of the retra plan. Uh this will encompass the entire fourth street corridor from lake street to valley and from the river all the way to the freeway. This helps to bring in our partners at the university as they've worked to come across south of the freeway so we can help to envision from a master planning standpoint who should we be attracting in this area. What are the types of businesses? What are the types of services? What are the types of activities we need to see? So we're going to start that process soon. Uh we'll be applying for a brownfields grant. This is an important grant that we help facilitate in order to make sure that the earth around us is shovel ready for development. A lot of things in our area, especially along the river, have had some previous contaminants and we want to make sure that we are making development as easy as possible in these previously blighted areas. Uh the RDA is going to be very involved in project permitting. Anything that comes through that's in a permit area that is RDA, we want to make sure that we are serving as proper stewards and helping to facilitate that process as streamlined as possible. Our goal is to help. Uh lastly, two things that are important that we've brought forward with this body are the Amtrak station. Uh this body allocated certain funds for us to be able to build an ADA bathroom on the Amtrak side of the building. This will allow us to then be able to start to talk to the community and identify what we can do with the historic side that currently sits unutilized. Uh that is a city-owned asset, but we think from a redevelopment side, it's important that we're part in order to help be a catalyst. Also, the parking garage that the RDA owns on the corner of Sierra and First has had some deferred maintenance and it's time that it gets a refresh. Uh, so we are working on some capital improvements there to improve the lighting, to improve some signage, and just find better ways for our community to have downtown access parking. Last thing, as we move forward and to wrap up, again, I would like to thank this body. I know that nothing moves as fast as any of us would like it to, and so I'm grateful for your commitment. 2025 was an incredibly transformative year in the redevelopment agency and I appreciate all of you being committed and giving us the direction that we need and the trust to move forward to allow us to execute on that vision. With 2026, we know that we'll be able to take that momentum and continue in the placemaking spaces and what makes our community proud for everyone to call home. Questions if you've got them. Okay. Wow, that was good. Love it. Love it. Okay, I'm gonna start with Councilwoman um Eert, but you don't have your light on, so I'm gonna go with council uh woman um Derer doer. Sorry. Okay. Hi. Um really you know fascinating presentation. I just wanted to bring one other thing you may have missed and I think the council love this especially you madame mayor. Um this is going to bring something that you know about to life. Finally, finally, finally, uh Will Durham and his neon museum are coming to downtown. So, they're going to be in the lobby of the bowling um stadium where there used to be for years a thing about history of bowling and all of that. And so, he has something like 200 pieces. I think he'll be able to display quite a few. Um it's scheduled. I went to their grand opening sort of start of fundraising. Um, and they're planning to open, you know, in the first quarter of this year, um, prior to the bowling event starting. So, this is remarkable. I mean, they have opportunities for different levels of, um, support, financial support. My husband and I signed up. Um, I saw our redevelopment director there um, as well. And so, I I didn't hear you mention it, but I think it's important. It's an activation of space that's actually going to turn in from a passive museum really into something a more active space. I don't know if they applied for any of these restore grants or anything. Do you know, Brian? We do. Yes, I I do know the answer to that. Um I just don't know if we are I don't believe that we can publicly discuss it at this time. I just didn't know if they applied even. So I don't know that I can publicly discuss that. Okay, that's fine. Um but I will say yes. So we are aware of that. um through we've been working very closely with the RSCBA. That's where uh Mike Larretta and I spend a lot of time together trying to find ways to bring more to downtown. And so that was a space that we knew uh was very important to this body and direction that had been given to him and trying to find a way to activate that space that sits dormant for a large period of time, really long time. So that will be something that will be really beneficial, something that will bring families down. So I know that Will is working through some of his logistics and the goal is for him whether or not he gets funding. I mean I it's just still important to know about that it's happening you know. Um and the second thing I wanted to ask is you didn't I don't think you mentioned it but you might have mentioned it earlier was is the Lear um um open to getting some of these funds that you were given the 2026 preview. Could you go back to that page just to recap? So you talked about the well that the next page I think. Yeah. You talked about these projects, you know, the parking gallery and and record street and so on, but can the lear this this exterior refresh couple hundred thousand is that eligible? Can we apply? So these projects that you have in front of you here are the projects that were allocated through the budget process. So these are already predetermined for the FY26 budget that we're already in. However, going into your FY27 budget, that can be something that if council gives that direction either through the capital improvement plan would be where I would suggest that if it's Well, I don't know about the capital improvement plan. I'm talking about the TIF funds. It would not be eligible for TIF um based off of the current parameters because since the city owns it, it doesn't produce any increment. So that means that you would be going into effectively your savings account, which is what we are using for the CIP plan and the projects that have been approved. So that's why you would I'm not sure I followed, but if you guys could follow up with me and and just maybe explain this offline, that'd be helpful. I'm just ask if we sold it and somebody else owned it. If it were owned by a for-profit company, they could because it is an RDA. If tax increment financing projects are a project where the owner gets property tax. No, I understand. Okay. So, because we don't I I understand. But when we talked about GSR, we talked a lot about infrastructure improvements, roads, um sidewalks, um etc. You got a legal opinion. I'm just asking to refresh and whether the LER as a city-owned facility can um fit in and be eligible for the some of those grants. The answer is yes, just not TIFF. Just not TIF. It would be eligible through the CIP process if that's the direction from this body. Yes. Well, how do we give you that direction? You need to do it during the budget cycle. So, we will bring that forward to you through the FY27. Well, just plant a seed. One last thing. I mean, during ARPA, some things move forward and some things dropped out. I have to believe the same thing is true here. So if there are challenges, I think that you should um bring it back to us. Sure. Yeah, we're happy to do that. For um everyone's awareness in RDA1, there is it's a very small amount of increment right now. It's so we have about a million dollars in increment. This body dedicated half a million to restore and then 350 to Amtrak in order to help facilitate the bathroom so we can do something with the second half that's sitting vacant. Right. And then uh 150 has been set aside for a popup program or small business development in our downtown core in order to try to activate those spaces. Okay. So if the body wants to reallocate that then that's something we can look into. Um but we're pretty far down the path. We've already secured architects on Lear or excuse me on Amtrak. Yeah. Well I support that. I I was just saying if it comes in less or the um half million for restore all of it doesn't get appropriated like there's 100,000 left or if the small business popup doesn't move forward. I mean if there are opportunities I'm just asking that you bring it back and consider the uh update of the outside of the LER because that's the kind of thing that we're talking about. Okay. Thanks. Thank you madam mayor. Um, for my part, Miss Tney, um, I think an outstanding presentation and certainly I appreciated kind of the where were we, what have we done and where are we going kind of approach. I think part of it is is when we have um a number of years on any body, it's hard to uh understand the slowness at which government moves, but also acknowledging the winds. So, you gave us a good kind of way to situate ourselves in that regard. Part of what I think is happening is and I'll be interested to see how this plays out through your um sort of the campaign to refresh and and understand it is I think some folks have not been downtown Reno in a long time. So they imagine Reno is what it was some years ago and they aren't really seeing the changes that that have been made. I'm very grateful for a lot of what I see going on because my offices are downtown and so I'm down here every day. Um, and I I see the improvements, right? And so what you can see and and be able to understand helps you to evaluate like the future. I also think that um you know we're very fortunate because as a body we come from a diverse range of backgrounds and those backgrounds each one of us brings a different lens to the things which we see and so I think that helps to diversify what is being offered through some of these things. So um I'm excited mostly about like the future stuff like hey we did it we did these things and that's great. um and celebrate the wins among your staff for the hard work that they've put in uh in in a lot of different departments, but it's some of these upcoming things like you mentioned that there would be several hundred million dollars potentially of applicants coming in. I'm interested to know what those are, right? And so in all in due time, I suppose. Um but thank you for the presentation, Council Taylor. Thank you. Um yeah, this is obviously very near and dear to my heart. It's part of the reason why I sit here today is um I moved down here to see this happen and I was given the opportunity to help make it happen. So, I'm very excited um along with my colleague uh Councilman Ree. One of the things that I hear often is we we're not going downtown. Nothing's happening downtown. So, um love everything that you're doing. I support everything that we're doing, but we've got to get the message out more. And I'm hoping that will happen with the rebrand effort, which I'm super excited. And then I will actually put my colleague, Councilwoman Anderson, on the spot and say maybe she can help us get out the word a lot more, too, because we I think we just have to keep telling people to come downtown. Keep telling people to come downtown. Um, and it's amazing as much as we put out on social media and how much we do, people say, "Oh, I didn't know that was h I didn't know the antique fair was happening last week." Um, which is phenomenal. I mean, it's just it's amazing the work that has been done. Um, the other thing I just wanted to point out is this just this is about the local businesses down there, too. So, when these events are happening, the businesses around downtown are really, really thriving, and we don't necessarily see that with all the events that come downtown, but everybody is very appreciative of that. Some people get upset about the street closures and stuff like that, but we're really doing very good and intentional work here, and we've just got to keep getting the word out more and more and more. So, I'm I'm super excited excited, very supportive. Um, and I think Yeah. Oh, one other thing I wanted to mention is with the holidays, ACES, the AC's ballpark just announced that they are going to be doing home for the holidays, which is an immersive light experience, which I think is going to lend to everything that we're doing down there, too. So, I just say, Reno, stick with us, come along with us. We're doing great things downtown. Thank you, Vice Mayor Taylor. Um, can I also say two things because you just triggered me to remember something. Um, first of all, thank you for all the work downtown and for being consistent voice for it. The automobile museum is doing some kind of a Christmy thing, too. And it's inside and it's um like lights and different kinds of things, Santa, that kind of thing. So, I it seems like they're very close to each other. Maybe there's some synergy there. Um I just think that it's I I don't always remember that the automobile museum is downtown and what it offers, but every time I go in there, I'm blown away by it. And it's kind of like a little hidden jewel, but Christmas themed stuff, too. because I believe Phil and um Eric have a good very very good working related rel they're not related but I think related part of what the but they do have to there's coordination Ashley attorney assistant city manager for the record uh there's a lot of coordination with a lot of our downtown partners and so they come to us first and say what does your schedule look like where do you have events where can we plug in because the goal is to give people activation on a regular reoccurring inconsistent basis. So if we have three brand new great events the same weekend, then we've got darkness other weekends. And so that's part of where Rachel is the placemaking manager. Her goal has been to try to help move around events and make sure they're in the right location and the right time. So, I would imagine that our constituents will see a lot going on in downtown from that Thanksgiving weekend kickoff with our holiday festival all through the mid of December based off of the other partners downtown and their activations as well. Um, okay. Go ahead, Councilwoman Anderson. Um, a couple of things. I went to Locomotion Plaza. I went to the lighting of the arch for Northern Nevada Children's Cancer Foundation. It was pouring rain. The place was absolutely filled and activated and magical where the merch was. I mean, it it's just such a brilliant space for somebody local to have an event even I mean an event of any kind. So, I just want to give you the props for that. I've been to the the arch lighting multiple years in a row and it was just extra special this year and everyone had a place to be even in the rain to wait it out and they had a great time. So, I just I want to just I can't say enough how impressed I was. Second of all, the energy around the Western Lights Festival is incredible. This is I think one of our biggest opportunities to have a legacy event in in downtown moving forward. And one thing I want to consider, I think we have an opportunity as Ward leaders to do a lo like a local challenge, a ward challenge. How many people? Let's come up with some kind of a contest where we invite our ward downtown for something whether it's at the Western Lights Festival or at the Holiday Lights Festival so that we can start like really taking ownership of getting our people downtown. Um I think the the Western Lights Festival was just it's just pure magic. So we have a huge opportunity there, but everybody will come down for the holidays. So, I I would just really like to put some some effort and interest into challenging my fellow ward members to get your people downtown. Challenge accepted. I love that. Um, there was a couple things. I felt like Ashley, we had something. Um, I did neglect to talk about your selfie spot, which is very cool. I thought that was awesome. You never told me. I was walking along and I said, "Oh my gosh, someone's painting on the ground." And then I look down and it's a selfie spot. And they, for those of you who don't know, it's strategic because where you stand is where you can get the whole arch in. So when people want to come downtown, you stand on that spot and you do it in a way that you can it get a killer shot. So it it's super awesome. Thank you for that. That is part of our design team and public works team and Brian and staff of trying to help find a way from a pedestrian safety standpoint, but also uh making sure that people get that iconic arch in the back. And there's actually two selfie spots depending on what side of the street you're on. Uh so there's one that faces on the other side Kitty Corner as well. So that's something that we felt was really important and it's incredibly popular. Every time I walk downtown, there's somebody always taking a picture. Oh no, we could not barely get a chance to stand on it. Instagrammable space. Yeah, we could barely get signed to the selfie. We should add that to the wayfinder sign. I was going to ask if it's on Google Maps if there's a pin there or anything, too, so people can like Oh, that's great. scavenger hunt, selfie spots. Any Yeah, that's a great idea. Um, and what you should do is take pictures of your feet right there and just keep I would keep having AJ, you know, um, push them out. It's very Instagrammable and Tik Tok and kind of thing, but you could be here. Um, the So, the one thing and I feel like we came up with something and now I can't remember, but it was something expanding on the tree lighting of, you know, because every year we kind of always go, oh, was I can't remember. We were talking about doing something so with a cherry on top. Yes. So there is a hope one day of finding a way. Uh I always have to make sure that I keep the urban forester not too upset at us annually. Uh because we load down that bad boy with lights. Um and I can hear the urban forester groan with every additional string of lights when I say it's not bright enough. Do more. Do more. Uh so part of what we've done Yeah, we always do that to him. We do it to him every year and he's a good sport. Um, so part of what we've done is to help increase that has to do with the additional lighting and the additional activations that are happening. So the train that runs through downtown, Santa will be down in the plaza. I think there's some reindeer and circus acts. And so part of that is finding additional lighting in the plaza. Uh, because we did turn down the lighting last year in order to create a little bit more of a glow effect. Uh, and we realized we just need to give a few more lights in there. So, we're going to continue to do that. Yeah. Well, I think it's super awesome. And then last but not least, and I haven't seen it because we were having regular updates, and it could be because we were all out of town, but this one is probably the most important. A safe city is a prosperous city. I would love to see a presentation from Chief Nance on um how their deeds is going, but also what's happening in downtown. Um I kind of need to know um I also want to send a very very very strong message that uh if we have issues uh with with down people in downtown um that we will be very very strict and arrest you. I mean I just can't I can't tolerate that because we're really trying to revitalize it and people get out of control. But here's where I'd say if those bars are overpouring and I really believe um some of them it's probably time that we have a meeting with them um in our ward to kind of find out what they're doing. I walked by some and you can tell the ones that are being good participants versus the ones that are pushing the limits. And that even can go for um what is it? Uh pressure washing. I I notice there's some big issues there, but it seems to be the same people over and over again and so we're going to need to address that. Um, and especially, I think, you know, it'll get a little quieter during the winter, but as we get back into nice weather. So, I want to make sure I know what Chief Nance has been doing. Um, that would be super helpful. I believe she's scheduled to come forward. So, some of the shifts that you'll see is on the city council side. Chief Nance will be presenting more of those updates to council on a regular basis of the efforts from a police public safety standpoint. And then we will be transitioning on the RDA side to bring you quarterly updates of all of the things that we're doing to help execute your vision and highlight the work downtown and in the other areas of the RDA. The other thing is we had a substation down there. We're not, you know, because that's where the uh bid is. I would love to see some place where we have somewhat of a substation where our officers can go in, get warm, get coffee, but also it's very identifiable when you need a police officer in some capacity. There should be some way to communicate that, especially with our tourists, uh our visitors, our um even our our locals who live downtown. You guys should be able to know exactly where you can find a policeman on foot or that one is close and nearby. Um, that would be really, really helpful in some capacity. I do think a presence, a walking presence can make a a big world of difference. Perception is reality. So, I know that's not your your department, but I will certainly have a conversation with Chief Nance. I'm just not seeing that. And they might be doing it. It's, you know, very different from what I see versus what they do. Sometimes you don't want to know what they're doing because they're doing some undercover work. So, um, so I don't want to get into that, but I I do want to give them all the help we can get or what they can get, whatever they need from us. Uh, this item is for discussion only. So, we don't need So, you don't have to take them. Yeah. Don't need motion. Don't need direction. We just wanted to say thank you for your commitment to the redevelopment agency and giving us the tools that we need to help be successful to execute your vision. What about um one more thing um we usually had a regular presentation from the bid. I assume they're on when are they coming back? They usually come in May is when they're scheduled to come. Can we get them to come sooner? I want an update. I don't know what they're I'm happy to ask. I'm sure I'm sure that would be happy to come and give up. That would be awesome. I usually know, but um since we were all on break and everyone has been off with kids and all that good stuff, I'd love to get us back together again. Get the gang back together again. Sure, we'll reach out. That'd be awesome. Okay. All right. Any more questions? Okay, kids. It's close to five o'clock. Me too. Uh we have B2. Um which is where are we? It's a contract with uh Rory for an attorney. So, it'll be clicked and then you're done. Okay. Item B2. Madam Clerk, do you have any public public comment? There's none. I'm tired again not speaking. No public comment. No public comment. Okay, come on up. Uh, Ashley, Attorney, assistant city manager. For the record, Madame Mayor, this is a request for outside legal counsel for the redevelopment agency. What's in front of you is a three-year contract of it not to exceed $150,000 per year to be paid from the redevelopment funds. Uh we are seeking outside counsel for a few reasons. One, we do know bandwidth is a little bit tight on the city attorney side as we continue to ramp up in the RDA space. Additionally, this work is highly specialized and so we have engaged with outside legal counsel with Kemper Cra uh specifically Rory Robinson has been representing us over the last year throughout various deals and questions that we've had. Uh so we would request respectfully that we continue that arrangement so that way we know we have that specialized legal work available to us. Okay. Thank you. Do we need to take action? Just need a motion. I just have a quick question. Go right ahead. Is this um and I'm asking because I don't want us to start thinking the RDA is a cash cow and I know it's only 150 grand a year, but is this a service that our legal can't provide? Our legal department can't provide. I believe that's probably a question. I'm sitting right here. I don't know. Would you like me to answer? I I don't care. Somebody just answered the question. can we not do it or I mean there's there's a couple projects certainly that we shouldn't be working on namely like the GSR and that sort of thing. Um but yeah, there's other projects where we still I mean we help out and we do kind of day-to-day work and I think this is more of the specialized um types of you know negotiations that that So you're supportive. Yeah, we're supportive. I'm just wondering like budget-wise if we're going to take a half a million dollars in legal services from the RDA, that's something that we need to look at in the budget discussions moving forward. Do you see this as something that's going to continue that we're going to need? I would imagine that this will be an ongoing expense. Yes. While the city attorney's office does help with things like agenda review, something that is smaller, uh if the RDA continues in the way that I'm projecting and expecting, we will have this specialized legal work ahead of us. So, I do think it'll be ongoing expense. So, it will be something for council to give. Perfect. And I'll keep that in mind as we go into budget discussions. Thank you. Go. Hold on a second. No, you're okay. Sorry, her light was on. Go ahead, Councilman Ree. Thank you so much, Mr. Tony. Can I just ask I thought there were some costs that the applicants pay um in this process. Does any of that get absorbed in this? Um, so the TIFF applicants when a deal is executed with this body, they are subject to a 1% fee of their increment that is collected. Uh, that comes back to the agency to help us with agency expenses of which this would be considered one. However, in order for us to maintain a third-party relationship with consultants, the developers don't pay anything upfront. I see. Okay. So, it it comes back when a deal is done and after the project's been built and assessed. And then um it's a not to exceed 150 each year, which means if we don't use their services, it we're not paying anything, right? It's not a like a flat fee. No, we're not on a retainer. It's a billable situation. Yeah. I I think Vice Mayor Taylor makes a good point and we should be monitoring it, but I understand what you've indicated, so I'm supportive. Okay. Go ahead. Yeah, I had a question. um how did we land on this particular group and are they specialists in this area? Like I'm just curious how we we landed on them. So admittedly where this came from initially is the city attorney's office was conflicted out of a previous deal and so we were forced to find outside legal counsel and so through the redevelopment space I contacted other cities that have worked in redevelopment areas and agencies and asked them if they had advice and we were put with a few uh different attorneys and firms u it was important that we found somebody who was specialized and didn't have conflicts and so we arrived with Kemper Cra specifically based out of Las Vegas, Rory Robinson, who is available on the phone. You've met her before. She's available via Zoom. Um, she has extensive experience in the redevelopment space as she worked for the city of Henderson doing their redevelopment agency deals. Thank you for that. Yeah. Okay. Any anyone else? No. All right. Councilwoman Der, do we have to give you move to approve? Oh second. No. Okay. I I have a motion. I have a second. All those in favor say I. All those opposed. Motion carries unanimously. Thanks. Board comments. Okay. Any board comments? Nope. We're moving right along. Uh any public comment, Madame Clerk? There is none. Okay. I'm going to send it over to Councilman Martinez. Move to adjourn the redevelopment agency. I have a second. All those in favor say I. All those opposed. Motion carries. I just always wonder if I did not approve that motion. Do we have to sit here all day? Should we find out? Let's not